Arguments for sin taxes, Social Security, and Medicaid now focus as
much on the inability of people to do the right thing as they are on
the vicissitudes of life that can leave even the most prudent person in
a bad spot. Glen Whitman of CalState-Northridge takes this
“Internalities” argument on in a new paper. Edward Glaeser at Harvard took on the psychological underpinnings of this argument in December.