Cass Sunstein and Richard Thaler (2003, 2006, 2009) contend that the government is justified in shaping certain choices of individuals to advance their well-being. In this paper, I argue that those who are committed to a robust notion of autonomy, which I call autonomy as authority, have good reason to reject the Sunstein-Thaler (S/T) argument for libertarian paternalism. I draw from Joseph Raz’s (1990) idea of exclusionary reasons and Daniel Groll’s (2012) conception of autonomy to argue that the S/T argument for libertarian paternalism fails to respect autonomy. I consider if soft paternalism could be called upon as a foundation for libertarian paternalism, but argue against this possibility. I conclude that an adequate defense of libertarian paternalism would need to directly attack the notion of autonomy as authority, but such an attack has yet to be mounted by the defenders of libertarian paternalism.

It is commonly believed that paternalism is at odds with libertarianism. Recent literature has suggested that there are forms of paternalism which are acceptable to libertarians: namely “nudging”, sometimes even referred to as “libertarian paternalism”. The purpose of this paper is twofold. First, to investigate the taxonomical question of how libertarianism, paternalism and nudging relate to each other. Secondly, to investigate whether, and if so when, paternalism is compatible with libertarianism. I argue that any action which is not coercive is compatible with libertarianism. Thus, any non-coercive paternalist action is compatible with libertarianism. I also argue that there are several paternalist action types, such as nudges, informing and incentivizing, which are not coercive, and thus are compatible with libertarianism.

År 2003 publicerade Richard H. Thaler och Cass R. Sunstein två artiklar om en föreslagen policymetod, på svenska kallad libertariansk paternalism, som med hjälp av både öppna och subtilt influerande metoder är tänkt att bistå människor med bättre beslutsfattande, och samtidigt tillfredsställa libertarianska ideal och principer rörande individuell autonomi genom dess avsaknad av tvångsmetoder. Min tes hävdar, såsom flertalet kritiker, att denna föreslagna policymetod och dess praktiska metoder inte klarar av att leva upp till de libertarianska idealen och principerna gällande individuell autonomi, då de trots allt innehåller paternalistiska aspekter av tvång, vilket anses vara anti-libertarianska. Jag argumenterar för att de främsta anledningarna till detta är 1) avsaknaden av medgivande från tilltänkt influerad agent, samt 2) att de utövade metoderna kan anses vara manipulativa och inte respektera en agents originella preferenser. I denna uppsats undersöker jag även om och på vilka grunder manipulation som fenomen kan anses innehålla aspekter av tvång. / In 2003, Richard H. Thaler and Cass R. Sunstein published two articles presenting a proposed policy method called libertarian paternalism, which with the help of both open and subtly influential methods is intended to assist people with better decision-making, and at the same time satisfy libertarian ideals and principles of individual autonomy through its lack of coercive methods. My thesis argues, like most critics, that this proposed policy method and its practical methods fail to live up to the libertarian ideals and principles of autonomy, as the nevertheless contain paternalistic aspects of coercion, which is considered anti-libertarian. I argue that the main reasons for this are 1) the lack of consent from the intended influenced agent, and 2) that the methods practiced can be considered manipulative and not respect an agent’s original preferences. In this paper, I also examine whether, and on what grounds manipulation as a phenomenon can be considered to include aspects of coercion.

The aim of this thesis is to identify the potentials of nudging as a managerial method. The focus is on employees who have no basic apprenticeship in the area in which they operate. The work consists of a theoretical and a practical part. The theoretical part establishes a common understanding of central terms and creates a uniform basis as well as connecting points. Some forms of nudging, which come into question for the purpose of leadership, are presented. The following practical part tries to combine the insights described in the first part and illustrate them with some examples.

Humans have now amassed a sizable knowledge of widespread, nonconscious cognitive biases which affect our behavior, especially in social and economic contexts. I contend that a democratic government is uniquely justified in using knowledge of cognitive biases to promote pro-democratic behavior, conditionally justified in using it to accomplish ends traditionally within the scope of government authority, and unjustified in using it for any other purpose. I also contend that the government ought to redesign institutional infrastructure to avoid triggering cognitive biases where it is not permitted intentionally to manipulate such biases and to optimize the effects of such biases where permissible. I shall use the United States of America as an example throughout, but my conclusions apply equally to any democracy which values the political autonomy of its populace.

This diploma thesis researches model of economic man, its historical background, and also modern critics of this concept and alternative approach to economic man, especially in behavioral economics. Human (im)perfection leads to the discussion about a range of liberty man should get eventually to which extent should a man be led by paternalism. Therefore this thesis introduces and tests concept of libertarian paternalism which is applied to drug issues. The thesis demonstrates that model of economic man is in many ways too simplified and insufficient. Thus, extention of this model with findings of psychology, biology and other sciences seems beneficial. Libertarian paternalism, despite few shortcomings, shows potential to be realisable and viable in certain situations.

The master thesis The concept of libertarian paternalism in the recodification of Czech private law introduces a concept that works as an efficient synthesis of two different approaches to the relationship between the individual and the state: liberalism and paternalism. Libertarian paternalism deals mainly with the default system setting and setting of the recommendations and mechanism that are helpful in the decision making process of an individual as well as the whole society. The master thesis defines this concept, its main attributes and its tradition in the behavioral economics as well as its means and limits. The thesis shows how the use of this concept provides cheap and effective tools for nudging human decisions and behavior. The libertarian paternalistic approach in the law regulation is demonstrated in the new civil recodification, especially Civil Code 2012 as the fundamental act of civil law. The master thesis uses interdisciplinary approach to the topic, applying the perspectives of philosophy of law, economy, psychology and sociology.

Region Östergötland has encountered issue in ecological and economical overconsumption of single-used garments in healthcare sector among medical staff in Universitetssjukhuset Linköping. Proper approaches to reach solutions towards decrease of usage of single-used garments were targeted to be implemented for employees of healthcare sector. Two goals were established for this study. First of all, it was aimed to analyse consumer behaviour of employees in healthcare sector of Östergötland region to find out reasons that lay behind increase of single-time garments by employees. Secondly, the aim was targeted to examine what nudging techniques, if any, are feasible to use in positively changing current consumer behavior. The findings showed that nudging has a strong potential to be regarded as an effective tool in influencing healthcare workers of Linköping University Hospital disposable garments usage. Main behavioural reasons that triggered increase of disposable garments usage were detected as lack of information and old habits of medical staff. Application of information disclosure, framing, feedback and social norms nudging techniques were identified to have promising possibilities in impacting current behaviour and raise healthcare workers awareness about their consumption patterns.

Orientador: Prof. Dr. Ramon Vicente Garcia Fernandez / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Federal do ABC, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ciências Humanas e Sociais, 2016. / Este trabalho tem como objetivo abordar a Economia Comportamental, suas origens, conceitos-base e desdobramentos para a área de políticas públicas, com uma visão voltada para o Brasil. Tendo se consolidado como uma subdisciplina da economia, a economia comportamental se vale da interdisciplinaridade entre psicologia e economia, sendo ainda necessário abordar alguns termos básicos desta última. É o caso da utilidade esperada e o preceito do Homem Racional (Homo economicus), dos quais a economia comportamental é crítica. Estes pontos, por sua vez, fazem conexão com os estudos de Daniel Kahneman e Amos Tversky, pilares da economia comportamental, mas também de outros, como Richard Thaler e Cass Sunstein, que contribuíram amplamente para a aplicação da economia comportamental em termos prescritivos, formulando os conceitos de nudge e paternalismo libertário. Este movimento será abordado no decorrer do trabalho, buscando, ao final, relacioná-lo com aspectos de políticas brasileiras, como é o caso do Programa Bolsa Família (PBF). / This study aims to outline Behavioral Economics, its origins, main concepts and expansion towards public policy, while contemplating a Brazilian perspective. Consolidated as a field in Economics, Behavioral Economics is based on the interdisciplinarity between Psychology and Economics, which makes it necessary to approach some basic terms of the latter. Such is the case of expected utility and the principle of rationality of economic agents (Homo economicus), which is criticized by behavioral economists. These points in turn are connected to the studies of Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky, pillars to behavioral economics, but also others, such as those of Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein, who have largely contributed to the application of behavioral economics in prescriptive terms, mproposing the concepts of nudge and libertarian paternalism. This movement is going to be approached as this study follows, aiming to relate aspects of Brazilian Policies in the end, such as the case of the Bolsa Família program.

The master's thesis is focused on the use of behavioural insights in public policy making. It presents possibilities and limitations that this approach brings in general and in the case study of shared medication record, describes the legislative framework and explores the ethical issues perceived by relevant stakeholders. The shared medication record is based on the principle of presumed consent of access doctors and pharmacists to the database of prescribed and dispensed medicines of the patient. He or she may thus make no effort to allow consent. If the patient does not agree with their access, he or she has the option of so-called opt-out, the granting of a prohibition of access. This type of public policy measure, i.e., nudge, is based on the libertarian paternalism. The paternalistic aspect in the shared medication record is represented by the protection of all citizens from possible unwanted medication interactions, the libertarian aspect is the possibility of opt-out.