A Political Economy of Behavioural Public Policy

The book is invaluable to all those interested in behavioural science and its application to policy. It offers a unique framework that fits within the classical liberal tradition of affording citizens autonomy over their lives, so long as they do not abuse that freedom by imposing substantive harms on others.

---

Behavioural public policy has thus far been dominated by approaches that are based on the premise that it is entirely legitimate for policymakers to design policies that nudge or influence people to avoid desires that may not be in their own self- interest. This book argues, instead, for a liberal political economy that radically departs from these paternalistic frameworks. Oliver argues for a framework whereby those who impose no substantive harms on others ought to be free of manipulative or coercive interference. On this view, BPP does not seek to “correct” an individual's conception of the desired life. This book is the third in a trilogy of books by Adam Oliver on the origins and conceptual foundations of BPP.