Behavioral Economics - Pro-Government Bias by Bryan Caplan, Foundation For Economic Education
95% of BE Policy Proposals Forget That Government Is Run by Humans
Behavioral economists often use their findings to argue for government intervention. Critics of behavioral economics often accuse its practitioners of a tacit double standard: Human irrationality is a poor argument for government action because officials are human.
Question: Can behavioral economists really neglect such a basic critique of their position?
Yes. In "Time for a Behavioral Political Economy" (Review of Austrian Economics 2012), Niclas Berggren classifies over 300 papers in behavioral economics. Does the paper offer any policy recommendation? If so, does the paper acknowledge that policymakers are subject to the same foibles as everyone else?
Berggren:
The study...
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