The Nudge in practice: some applications of Libertarian Paternalism to Public Policies

Abstract

This article aims at addressing and discussing libertarian paternalism in terms of its characteristics and recurrent examples. This political approach, which might at first seem contradictory since it argues paternalist principles while maintaining individuals’ freedom, has emerged in accordance with studies of the concept of nudges and the architecture of choice, explored in the scope of behavioral economics. Along these lines, it is also important to address this economical ideology, seeing that it is critical of the axiomatic model of the rational individual that’s present in the neoclassical economical approach. Along with that, it also has reinforced limited rationality studies, influencing the public policies field, especially in terms of policy making and expected outcomes. Therefore, it is necessary to address and investigate these new views and tools, but also questions them, in order to point out their actual reach and possible flaws.