Paternalism Attitudes and the Happiness Value of Fundamental Freedoms

53 Pages Posted: 1 Apr 2021 Last revised: 4 Feb 2025

See all articles by Kai A. Konrad

Kai A. Konrad

Max Planck Institute for Tax Law and Public Finance; Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR); CESifo (Center for Economic Studies and Ifo Institute for Economic Research); IZA Institute of Labor Economics

Sven A. Simon

Max Planck Institute for Tax Law and Public Finance

Date Written: March 31, 2021

Abstract

Governmental regulations and prohibitions may effectively reduce self-harming behavior, but might also restrict personal freedom rights. This paper investigates into individuals' attitude to the trade-off between being protected from taking self-harming actions by the state, and the desire to be free to choose. We introduce the Governmental Paternalism Index to measure this attitude. Our results indicate considerable heterogeneity in how individuals support, or object to, such governmental prescriptions. More importantly, we show the importance of the attitude in a survey on life satisfaction during the Covid-19 pandemic. We find a reversed relationship between the preference for paternalistic state interventions and the valuation of personal freedoms. Individuals who prefer to have a larger choice set at the expense of committing potentially self-harming actions derive a higher value from personal freedoms in terms of life satisfaction.

Keywords: governmental regulation, Governmental Paternalism Index, self-harming

JEL Classification: H11, H12, C90, K38

Suggested Citation

Konrad, Kai A. and Simon, Sven A., Paternalism Attitudes and the Happiness Value of Fundamental Freedoms (March 31, 2021). Working Paper of the Max Planck Institute for Tax Law and Public Finance No. 2021-04, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3816728 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3816728

Kai A. Konrad

Max Planck Institute for Tax Law and Public Finance ( email )

Marstallplatz 1
Munich, 80539
Germany

HOME PAGE: http://www.tax.mpg.de/en/pub/home.cfm

Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR)

90-98 Goswell Road
London, EC1V 7RR
United Kingdom

CESifo (Center for Economic Studies and Ifo Institute for Economic Research)

Poschinger Str. 5
Munich, 81679
Germany

IZA Institute of Labor Economics

P.O. Box 7240
Bonn, 53072
Germany

Sven A. Simon (Contact Author)

Max Planck Institute for Tax Law and Public Finance ( email )

Marstallplatz 1
Munich, 80539
Germany

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