Nonicoclolasos

I den mycket läsvärda uppsatsen ”The Knowledge Problem of New Paternalism” presenterar Mario Rizzo och Douglas Glen Whitman en skarp och detaljerad kritik mot liberal (eller libertariansk) paternalism med utgångspunkt i det av F. A. Hayek identifierade kunskapsproblemet:

If well-meaning policymakers possessed all the relevant information about individuals’ true preferences, their cognitive biases, and the choice contexts in which they manifest themselves, then policymakers could potentially implement paternalist policies that improve the welfare of individuals by their own standards. But lacking such information, we cannot conclude that actual paternalism will make their decisions better; under a wide range of circumstances, it will even make them worse. New paternalists have not taken the knowledge problems that are evident from the underlying behavioral and economic research seriously enough.

Detta utgör, enligt min mening, en tung kritik mot dem som tar beteendeekonomiska insikter som grund för att förespråka olika slags interventionism. Det räcker inte med godsinta ”valarkitekter” och planerare, om de inte har tillräcklig kunskap för att uppnå sina lovvärda mål. Och problemet är inte lättlöst, om ens alls lösbart:

One obvious defense of the new paternalist project is to say we simply need to collect more information. This, in itself, constitutes a major concession; it means recent proposals for paternalist interventions should at least be put on hold until superior information becomes available. But more importantly, this defense fails because much of the necessary knowledge is unavailable to a paternalist planner in principle. The relevant information about the extent of real-world biases is necessarily local in character; that is, it depends on particular characteristics of time and place.

Se tidigare inlägg med annan kritik mot liberal paternalism här, här, här, här och här; och se Hayeks artikel ”The Use of Knowledge in Society” från American Economic Review, i vilken kunskapsproblemet specificeras.