Pensions

3min Snip

00:00

Play full episode

Summary

Transcript

Episode notes

In the private sector, what we're seeing is retrenchment. And plan sponsors and forwink, administrators have been realizing that the number of options is probably too big. The more options there are, the longer it takes for people to get around to signing up because there's some paralysis. So much like what i would have liked to see in the sweetest plan, which is all for as many option as you want, but have a simple way for the unsophisticated people to elect something good.

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.