Another Part of the Possible
Monday, June 23rd, 2008Thanks to George Will, I think I have a better idea of the thrust of Cass Sunstein and Richard Thaler’s much-discussed new book on “libertarian paternalism,” Nudge. It’s not about distorting the tax code with a million new Pigovian prods. It is also, it should be noted, not remotely libertarianism pure. It’s a regulatory regime. It would impose some burdens on businesses and probably individuals. It does sound like an incremental improvement over existing nanny-state impulses, though. And the plain truth is, generalized libertarianism is unproven as a plan for human betterment. (There’s a rights-based case that side-steps the practicalities of whether every single possible reduction of governmental sway over our lives will make people happier and materially better off. A dedicated anarcho-capitalist is pretty sure life would be “better” without government, but thinks that what matters is that life without government would be more moral.) Meanwhile, past - managerial - approaches of liberalism to societal problems have often misfired spectacularly.