In a typical company, most of the workers know approximate nothing about investing. A good pension plan will have a default investment fund that is chosen to help the unsophisticated investors. The current labor department has been particularly dull witted on this particular but meaning, mean, which side they discourage advice?
Richard Thaler of the U. of Chicago Graduate School of Business defends the idea of libertarian paternalism--how government might use the insights of behavioral economics to help citizens make better choices. Host Russ Roberts accepts the premise that individuals make imperfect choices but challenges Thaler on the likelihood that government, in practice, will improve matters. Along the way they discuss the design of Sweden's social security system, organ donations and whether professors at Cornell University are more or less like you and me.