Behavioral economics serves neoliberal ends by defining the limits of state intervention.

Evidence

In recent debates, the application of behavioral insights to public policy appears mostly as a means to widen and strengthen the capacity for state regulation, sparking fears of manipulation and control. As the case of Günter Schmölders shows, however, behavioral economics, or socioeconomic behavioral research/empirical socioeconomics as Schmölders called it, is not necessarily at odds with a neoliberal project. The empirical analysis of economic behavior can serve both as a means to increase state intervention into areas of individual choice that had formerly been considered impenetrable in liberal democracies or as an attempt to define the limits of state intervention. Schmölders intended to empirically establish the principles of human behavior that could not be changed and, therefore, also not be the object of economic policy. In this approach, he was in line with the older German ordoliberals who did not believe in the abstraction of a homo economicus but rather held the view that competitive markets produced the best economic outcomes given the limitations of human knowledge and rationality. Thus, a behavioral approach to economics is politically polyvalent with appeal across the political spectrum, which is one of the major reasons for its recent success in political consulting. — Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, 347

Categorization

• XREF: Ties into the book’s broader project of fracturing the crude caricature of neoliberalism — same analytical move as treating nudge/behavioral economics as compatible with, not opposed to, market liberalism. Also connects to the hayekian epistemic humility strand and Kahneman’s nudge politics debates. — connects to: Behavioral economics repackaged government intervention during the neoliberal era — Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, 346; The economy functions as model, object, and project of neoliberal state rationality. — Wendy Brown, Undoing the Demos: Neoliberalism’s…, 107; Behavioral economics shares origins with, rather than refutes, neoliberal thought — Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, 39 (+8 more)
• DEFINE: Introduces the German term ‘empirical socioeconomics’ as Schmölders’ name for behavioral economics, situating it within ordoliberal thought.
• QUESTION: Worth chasing: how far did Schmölders’ ‘limits of intervention’ framing actually constrain German welfare policy versus merely rationalizing it?

Broader Connections

• Behavioral economics shares origins with, rather than refutes, neoliberal thought #corroborates (0.85) — Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, 39
• Behavioral economics offers the sensation of reform without reform #expands (0.85) — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 746
• The economy functions as model, object, and project of neoliberal state rationality. #complicates (0.80) — Wendy Brown, Undoing the Demos, 107
• Neoliberalism governs people by getting them to self-regulate toward economic ideals. #expands (0.80) — Alice E. Marwick, Status Update, 38
• The free market requires constant state interventionism to be established and maintained #qualifies (0.80) — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, 2137
• Neoliberalism extends market logic to regulate all human behavior. #expands (0.80) — Alice E. Marwick, Status Update, 32
• Neoliberalism activates the state for the economy rather than withdrawing it. #qualifies (0.75) — Wendy Brown, Undoing the Demos, 106
• State interventionism itself was deployed to rescue and deepen the neoliberal model #expands (0.75) — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, 1605
• Neoliberalism is a governing rationality, not just economic policy or ideology. #corroborates (0.75) — Wendy Brown, Undoing the Demos, 14
• Neoliberalism is a normative mode of reason, not merely an economic policy set #corroborates (0.75) — Wendy Brown, Undoing the Demos, 80