People make mistakes all the time. The real question is, who should help them? And now, in the cases we mentioned so far, which i think we actually pretty much agree on, we've talked about private help. If i work for a company that has lots of paternalistic attributes, discounts for the health care club in the fitness club in the company, or ah the option in the company cavater. This will only be a small change. Let's turn to the research did on the swedish social security privatization. Very interesting. We understand that there's a certain wis to an arranged marriage. But there's a wisdom to it. That's a voluntary choice to get
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.