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Time for behavioral political economy? An analysis of articles in behavioral economics

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  • Niclas Berggren

Abstract

This study analyzes leading research in behavioral economics to see whether it contains advocacy of paternalism and whether it addresses the potential cognitive limitations and biases of the policymakers who are going to implement paternalist policies. The findings reveal that 20.7% of the studied articles in behavioral economics propose paternalist policy action and that 95.5% of these do not contain any analysis of the cognitive ability of policymakers. This suggests that behavioral political economy, in which the analytical tools of behavioral economics are applied to political decision-makers as well, would offer a useful extension of the research program. Such an extension could be related to the concept of robust political economy, according to which the case for paternalism should be subjected to “worst-case” assumptions, such as policymakers being less than fully rational. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2012

Suggested Citation

  • Niclas Berggren, 2012. "Time for behavioral political economy? An analysis of articles in behavioral economics," The Review of Austrian Economics, Springer;Society for the Development of Austrian Economics, vol. 25(3), pages 199-221, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:revaec:v:25:y:2012:i:3:p:199-221
    DOI: 10.1007/s11138-011-0159-z
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    Citations

    Blog mentions

    As found by EconAcademics.org, the blog aggregator for Economics research:
    1. Behavioural blackboards
      by Eric Crampton in Offsetting Behaviour on 2012-02-28 00:00:00
    2. Paternalism - for children, and for the lower orders
      by Eric Crampton in Offsetting Behaviour on 2012-06-05 05:00:00
    3. Behavioural politics
      by jamesz in TVHE on 2012-07-30 05:36:02

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Behavioral economics; Anomalies; Rationality; Homo economicus; Public choice; Robust political economy; JEL Classification D03; D78;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D03 - Microeconomics - - General - - - Behavioral Microeconomics: Underlying Principles
    • D78 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Positive Analysis of Policy Formulation and Implementation

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