Cass ‘Cognitive Infiltration’ Sunstein on Gun Control
January 4th, 2013Via: Big Think:
While he left his post as the head of the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs this past summer, Sunstein remains one of the most influential legal scholars of his generation. His ideas — which apply behavioral economics to public policy — are highly nuanced, and often make both libertarians and liberals nervous in equal measure.
Sunstein, along with co-author Richard Thaler, defines libertarian paternalism as follows:
Libertarian paternalism is a weak, soft, and non-intrusive type of paternalism because choices are not blocked, fenced off, or significantly burdened…Still the approach we recommend does count as paternalistic, because private and public choice architects are not merely trying to track or implement people’s choices. Rather, they are self-consciously attempting to move people in directions that will make their lives better. They nudge.
In other words, the government can present a “framework of choices” to correct “errors in risk perception.” At the Nantucket Project, a festival of ideas held on Nantucket, Massachusetts, Sunstein delivered a spirited defense of this model for regulation.
Related: Obama Staffer Wants ‘Cognitive Infiltration’ of Conspiracy Groups
Research Credit: almaverdad2
