Freedom of choice and bounded rationality A brief appraisal of behavioral economists plea for light paternalism

Vol. 32 No. 3 (2012)

Jul-Sep / 2012
Published July 1, 2012
PDF-English
PDF-English

How to Cite

Muramatsu, Roberta, and Patrícia Fonseca. 2012. “Freedom of Choice and Bounded Rationality A Brief Appraisal of Behavioral Economists Plea for Light Paternalism”. Brazilian Journal of Political Economy 32 (3):445-58. https://centrodeeconomiapolitica.org.br/repojs/index.php/journal/article/view/363.

Freedom of choice and bounded rationality A brief appraisal of behavioral economists plea for light paternalism

Roberta Muramatsu
Professora doutora da Universidade Presbiteriana Mackenzie e do Insper.
Patrícia Fonseca
Pesquisadora independente na área de Economia Comportamental e Psicologia Econômica
Brazilian Journal of Political Economy, Vol. 32 No. 3 (2012), Jul-Sep / 2012, Pages 445-458

Abstract

Behavioral economics has addressed interesting positive and normative questions underlying the standard rational choice theory. More recently, it suggests that, in a real world of boundedly rational agents, economists could help people to improve the quality of their choices without any harm to autonomy and freedom of choice. This paper aims to scrutinize available arguments for and against current proposals of light paternalistic interventions mainly in the domain of intertemporal choice. It argues that incorporating the notion of bounded rationality in economic analysis and empirical findings of cognitive biases and self-control problems cannot make an indisputable case for paternalism.

JEL Classification: B40; B41; D11; D91.


Keywords: freedom choice bounded rationality paternalism behavioral economics