Mill's Constitution of Liberty: an alternative behavioural policy framework

This paper offers an interpretation of the behavioural evidence that casts doubt over whether people always have preferences or, if they do, that they are stable. If people do not have preferences in this sense, then the usual policy evaluation standard of preference satisfaction cannot be used in t...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Behavioural Public Policy 2023-10, Vol.7 (4), p.933-942
Main Author: Hargreaves Heap, Shaun P.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Consequentialism
Decision making
Experiments
Preferences
Citations: Items that this one cites
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Summary:This paper offers an interpretation of the behavioural evidence that casts doubt over whether people always have preferences or, if they do, that they are stable. If people do not have preferences in this sense, then the usual policy evaluation standard of preference satisfaction cannot be used in these cases. The paper then develops, to fill this gap, a Millian policy framework where policy is judged by whether it advances what Mill understands by individual liberty in On Liberty . This yields many recognisable policies but offers a different evaluative standard for them. It also yields some policy innovations: e.g. a basic income and a flat tax.
ISSN:2398-063X
2398-0648
DOI:10.1017/bpp.2023.4