[lbo-talk] 'Nudge' policies are another name for coercion - New Scientist

[// ravi]

On Nov 9, 2011, at 1:09 PM, Wojtek S wrote:
>> Ravi: "This points to the key problem with "nudge" style paternalism:
>> presuming that technocrats understand what ordinary people want better
>> than the people themselves. "
>> 
> [WS:]  But this is what many advocates of socialist planned economies
> argued, no?

Was it? I would have thought that most socialist/planned economies argue that they know how to *achieve* what people want better. There is a difference between saying “I know what you want” and “I know how to get what you want", no?


>  The point is not that "technocrats know better" but that
> ordinary people routinely fail to take into account considerations
> that have been externalized. 

Yes, true. I think the authors of the article point out (or quote someone who does) that what is needed is a two-way, and that is ruled out when technical prescriptions are surreptitiously implemented. One (though not the only) reason is that not all considerations are technical.

	—ravi