progressivism, individualism, and the public ... - Telmarc Group

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The Telmarc Group PROGRESSIVISM, INDIVIDUALISM, AND THE PUBLIC INTELLECTUAL planning to sell their house or refinance within a few years, these mortgages can be highly attractive.” " But the issues is that there are still two extremes being presented. At the one extreme, individualism, you can be informed of the consequences and the costs of those consequences can be factored into your decision set. The other extreme, the Sunstein approach, you are steered by a Governmental agent to "make" the right choice. Making the wrong choice has a cost. You should be aware of that costs and you should incur that cost should you make the choice. Part of the Sunstein approach is trying to prevent the individual from ever confronting a "bad choice" and in turn trying to prevent that individual from incurring a cost. Thus bank bailouts is the Sunstein on steroids, not individuals but major institutions. Bad choices have costs. The question is what are the externalities of those costs. If the externalities are high who should pay? If for example, this were China, such a massive bad choice would result in the death penalty. Clearly that is not an American choice, but something in between would work. In a review by Leonard it states: Thaler and Sunstein begin with “dogmatic anti-paternalists” in their sights. Economists, traditionally heavily represented among those opposed to paternalism, hold three mistaken beliefs about paternalism. They are: one, the belief that paternalism must be coercive, two, the belief that paternalism is avoidable, and, most important, three, the belief that people make choices that are better, by their own lights, than the choices that would be made for them by paternalists. Each of these traditional beliefs is a misconception or false, say the authors. Thaler and Sunstein regard three as simply false. In many situations, they say, paternalistic experts really do know better, and the proof is that those who have benefited from paternalistic expertise seem to concur. Traditional paternalism is coercive, so it is a stretch to label this belief a misconception, but never mind: Thaler and Sunstein want to rebrand the term, arguing that their “libertarian paternalism” is not an oxymoron. Nudgers, unlike bad old paternalists, help people without compulsion. A nudge steers the paternalized person, but always leaves open the option for the paternalized person to choose another course… So, Nudge defends three main claims: one, the architecture of choice greatly influences how people make choices; two, choice architecture is unavoidable (so why not design in ways that improve well being), and three, libertarian paternalism is not an oxymoron: paternalists can nudge while preserving freedom of choice... The irony is that behavioral economics, having attacked Homo Economicus as an empirically false description of human choice, now proposes, in the name of paternalism, to enshrine the very same fellow as the image of what people should want to be. Or, more precisely, what paternalists want people to be. For the consequence of dividing the self has been to undermine the very idea of true preferences. If true preferences don’t exist, Page 178
The Telmarc Group PROGRESSIVISM, INDIVIDUALISM, AND THE PUBLIC INTELLECTUAL the libertarian paternalist cannot help people get what they truly want. He can only make like an old fashioned paternalist, and give people what they should want. Thus the issue of people making bad choices, often because the costs of those choices are not present. They are deferred costs. Smoking is the example. There may be a deferred cost of an early death. That is a cost to the cigarette smoker, and that smoker takes the chance. There may be the externality of secondary smoking or inducing others to join in, costs which go beyond the demise of the smoker. Taxing cigarettes to reflect those costs have merit. The same would be the case for obesity and Type 2 Diabetes. The costs can much more likely be determined as substantial and thus can and should be reflected in the consumption decisions of the individual. The Sunstein approach is to paternalistically make the choice more difficult. The individualistic approach is to make the cost explicit. 6.5.3 Rights vs Freedom Sunstein wrote the book, The Second Bill of Rights, FDR's Unfinished Revolution and Why we Need it More Than Ever, recounting the FDR Second Bill of Rights, reflecting a speech FDR gave in January 1944. FDR presented this Second Bill of Rights as follows: The right to a useful and remunerative job in the industries or shops or farms or mines of the nation; The right to earn enough to provide adequate food and clothing and recreation; The right of every farmer to raise and sell his products at a return which will give him and his family a decent living; The right of every businessman, large and small, to trade in an atmosphere of freedom from unfair competition and domination by monopolies at home or abroad; The right of every family to a decent home; The right to adequate medical care and the opportunity to achieve and enjoy good health; The right to adequate protection from the economic fears of old age, sickness, accident, and unemployment; The right to a good education. These are clearly rights to get something, not what we see in the existing Bill of Rights, which are protection from the Government and securing the individual. These rights are rights in line with Distributive Justice, they redistribute from those who have to those who do not. They are as we have previously described all positive rights. They are rights that cost others. Page 179
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progressivism, individualism, and the public ... - Telmarc Group

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