Rabin argues that these biases are irrational and details the self-harm they cause in the presence of habit-forming choices. (This harm is understood in a liberal manner as a lesser degree of satisfaction of an individual’s informed, long-term preferences.) He also argues that, to prevent this harm, governments should tax behaviour that leads to unhealthy habits. Rabin’s proposal invites the ch...

BACKGROUND This case report discusses an ethical communication dilemma in prehospital patient interaction, involving a patient who was about to board a plane at a busy airport. The article argues that the situation raised dilemmas about communication, patient autonomy and paternalism. Paramedics should be able to find good solutions to these dilemmas, but they have not received much attention i...

2 The authors make two main arguments in this paper: that behavioral economics rationalizes a wide array of welfare-improving interventions; and that economists should refrain from recommending policies that go beyond benign paternalism because policymakers are subject to the same behavioral biases that afflict individuals or, worse, may be self-interested, not benevolent. I agree that behavior...

Why do we regulate the substances we can ingest, the advisors we can hear, and the products we can buy far more than similarly-important non-health choices? I review many possible arguments for such paternalistic policies, as well many possible holes in such arguments. I argue we should either be clearer about what justifies our paternalism, or we should back off and be less paternalistic.