caa a22 4500 445829826 CHVBK 20180317145310.0 cr unu---uuuuu 170323e20110601xx s 000 0 eng 10.1007/s10657-010-9193-8 doi (NATIONALLICENCE)springer-10.1007/s10657-010-9193-8 Veetil Vipin International PhD Program in Comparative Analysis of Institutions, Economics and Law, Collegio Carlo Alberto, Turin, Italy aut Libertarian paternalism is an oxymoron: an essay in defence of liberty [Elektronische Daten] [Vipin Veetil] Sunstein and Thaler's proposal for ‘libertarian paternalism' in their paper titled "Libertarian Paternalism is not an Oxymoron” (LPNO from here on) is based on the contention that paternalism is sometimes (1) inevitable and (2) non coercive, and (3) that individuals do not always make ‘rational' decisions. The first two contentions are untrue, and the question of whether individuals make ‘rational' decisions as judged by the axiomatic definition of neo-classical economic theory is vestigial to the ideas and policy prescriptions of classical liberal and libertarian political economy. The paper, fraught with definitional confusions and methodological difficulties, is a superior example of how correct empirical observations and laudable advancements in identifying cognitive characteristics that may be relevant to economic analysis can lead to unsound theories due to methodological deficiencies. Policy prescriptions in the long run must take an institutional form; the greatest deception of the paper lies in its omission of any discussion on such an institution, which, I believe by logical necessity would be a Platonist autocratic bureaucracy. A consistent application of libertarian paternalism is the ‘road to serfdom'. Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, 2010 Libertarian paternalism nationallicence European Journal of Law and Economics Springer US; http://www.springer-ny.com 31/3(2011-06-01), 321-334 0929-1261 31:3<321 2011 31 10657 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10657-010-9193-8 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI 1 research-article jats NATIONALLICENCE 856 40 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10657-010-9193-8 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI NATIONALLICENCE 100 1- Veetil Vipin International PhD Program in Comparative Analysis of Institutions, Economics and Law, Collegio Carlo Alberto, Turin, Italy aut NATIONALLICENCE 773 0- European Journal of Law and Economics Springer US; http://www.springer-ny.com 31/3(2011-06-01), 321-334 0929-1261 31:3<321 2011 31 10657 Metadata rights reserved Springer special CC-BY-NC licence nationallicence BK010053 XK010053 XK010000 NATIONALLICENCE NATIONALLICENCE NL-springer