Merely Means Paternalist? Prospect Theory and “Debiased” Welfare Analysis

Titelangaben

Thoma, Johanna:
Merely Means Paternalist? Prospect Theory and “Debiased” Welfare Analysis.
In: Philosophy of Science. Bd. 91 (2024) Heft 1 . - S. 204-224.
ISSN 0031-8248
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/psa.2023.106

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Abstract

Behavioral welfare economics usually aims at mere means paternalism, helping agents better pursue their own goals. This paper discusses one initially promising way to inform policies addressed at agents who violate expected utility theory (EUT), namely what I call “CPT debiasing.” I argue that this approach is problematic even if we grant the normative authority of EUT, the descriptive adequacy of CPT (cumulative prospect theory), and the general acceptability of means paternalism. First, it is doubtful whether the CPT utility function measures what its proponents intend. Second, by imposing risk neutrality on agents, the approach involves a more problematic paternalism.