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More on "Libertarian Paternalism"

By purepedantry on June 6, 2007.

I wrote about my skepticism about libertarian paternalism before.

Here is some more skepticism. Glen Whitman writes about one type of policy advocated by libertarian paternalists -- the opt-out program. In opt-out programs, you are enrolled in what the government says you should do -- such as a savings account -- unless you specifically say that you don't want to do it. The problem as Whitman points out is in how difficult it is to get out. If you make it a bureaucratic maze to extricate yourself from a program, you have essentially made that program mandatory. (He discusses the slippery slope in two post, here and here.)

Meanwhile Ilya Somin at Volokh has more on the problem of expert opinion. Who needs them!

Hat-tip: Volokh Conspiracy.

Tags
Government Paternalism
Libertarian politics

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