Government Paternalism

Julian Le Grand is the Richard Titmuss Professor of Social Policy at the London School of Economics. He has acted as a senior adviser to the UK Prime Minister, the European Commission, the World Bank, and the World Health Organization. His many books include Motivation, Agency, and Public Policy and The Economics of Social Problems. Le Grand was awarded a knighthood in 2015 for services to social science and public service. Bill New is an independent policy analyst, currently working in Italy. He has previously worked in the UK for the National Audit Office and the King's Fund.

• Preface vii 1 Introduction 1 2 What Is Paternalism? 7 The Interference in Freedom 8 Promoting the Good 16 The Question of Consent 18 Conclusion: A Definition of Paternalism 22 3 Types of Paternalism 25 Legal Paternalism 25 Soft and Hard Paternalism 26 Means and Ends Paternalism 27 Perfectionism 30 Volitional and Critical Paternalism 33 Moral Paternalism and Legal Moralism 35 Other Categories of Paternalism 36 Conclusion 38 4 Paternalism in Practice 41 Types of Government Intervention 42 Nonpaternalistic Justifications for State Intervention 53 Do Nonpaternalist Justifications Explain Paternalist Laws and Regulations? 59 Conclusion 77 5 Paternalism and Well-Being 79 The Classical Economic Model and Its Challengers 80 The Evidence on Reasoning Failure 82 Ends-Related Paternalism 101 Conclusion: Means-Related versus Ends-Related Paternalism 103 6 The Nanny State: The Challenge from Autonomy 105 Autonomy 106 Autonomy and Motivation 108 Soft Paternalism 111 Autonomy Failure from External Causes 112 Autonomy Failure from Internal Causes 116 When Should the Soft Paternalist Intervene? 119 Does Soft Paternalism Avoid Offending Autonomy? 121 Overriding Autonomy: Hard Paternalism 127 Conclusion 131 7 Libertarian Paternalism 133 Definitions 134 Nudge Ideas: The Case For 135 Nudge Ideas: The Case Against 139 Conclusion 145 8 Paternalism and Policy 147 The Groups Affected: Well-Being and Autonomy 147 Types of Policy 151 Smoking 154 Pensions 159 Assisted Suicide 161 Conclusion 166 9 The Politics of Paternalism 167 Can the State Do Better? 167 Will the State Do Better? 170 Conclusion 174 10 Nanny State or Helpful Friend? 177 Bibliography 183 Index 195

"[T]his is an excellent survey of approaches justifying and opposing government interventionism."--Choice