“Escaping Paternalism: Rationality, Behavioral Economics and Public Policy”

The IEA will be hosting an upcoming event with Mario Rizzo on his book, “Escaping Paternalism”. This event will take place on Tuesday 25^th March from 18:00 – 20:30 at the IEA Westminster offices. Chris Snowdon (IEA’s Head of Lifestyle Economics) will chair this event.

‘Escaping Paternalism’, published in 2019, has been described by the IEA’s Christopher Snowdon as one of the most important economics books of the last twenty years. Mario Rizzo and co-author Glen Whitman painstakingly take apart the arguments for government paternalism that have been derived from behavioural economics. The authors argue that nudge theorists rely on flawed science and have an unrealistic view of rationality. Using insights from public choice theory, they argue that experts and policymakers overestimate their ability to solve problems and that decisions are best left to individuals.

Mario Rizzo is a professor of Economics, Director of the Foundations of the Market Economy Program, and Co-Director of the Classical Liberal Institute of New York University. He is the co-author of Austrian Economics Re-Examined: The Economics of Time and Ignorance (2014). He has published in such journals as Journal of Legal Studies, the Columbia Law Review and the UCLA Law Review.