The latest Bloomberg Business Week also features an interesting article about the Obama administration?s ?behavioralists,? those who believe in a form of libertarian paternalism that focuses on government steering people toward outcomes that are good for them.
[Orszag] was one of the Administration?s most prominent devotees of behavioral economics — the study of what drives consumers to part with their money as they pick one product, retailer, or provider over another. If you give consumers better information and subtly push them in the right direction, the thinking goes, they can be coaxed, not commanded, into buying healthier foods, consuming less energy, and taking out more affordable mortgages.
Of course, this type of philosophy is confined to Washington. It never would affect legislative debates in Raleigh.
