TY - UNPB

T1 - Suboptimal Paternalism: Ability, Benevolence, and Self-Selection in Choosing for Others

AU - Døssing, Felix

AU - Lassen, David Dreyer

PY - 2019/9/16

Y1 - 2019/9/16

N2 - Discussions about the legitimacy and welfare consequences of paternalistic interventions usually begin with the assumption that regulators are both benevolent and competent. We present experimental evidence that neither need be the case. In our experiment, individuals choose whether to restrict the choice of another participant and we see that regulation, on average, decreases choice efficiency. While more competent regulators are more likely to restrict choice sets in order to improve welfare for subjects when they use their regulatory privilege, selection into being an active regulator is unrelated to competence. The propensity for kind regulation is increasing in own competence, while the propensity for unkind regulation is both negatively related to own competence and positively related to the competence of the subject.

AB - Discussions about the legitimacy and welfare consequences of paternalistic interventions usually begin with the assumption that regulators are both benevolent and competent. We present experimental evidence that neither need be the case. In our experiment, individuals choose whether to restrict the choice of another participant and we see that regulation, on average, decreases choice efficiency. While more competent regulators are more likely to restrict choice sets in order to improve welfare for subjects when they use their regulatory privilege, selection into being an active regulator is unrelated to competence. The propensity for kind regulation is increasing in own competence, while the propensity for unkind regulation is both negatively related to own competence and positively related to the competence of the subject.

KW - paternalism

KW - choosing for others

KW - risk preferences

KW - beneficence

U2 - 10.2139/ssrn.3448513

DO - 10.2139/ssrn.3448513

M3 - Working paper

T3 - CEBI Working Paper Series

BT - Suboptimal Paternalism: Ability, Benevolence, and Self-Selection in Choosing for Others

ER -