Neoliberals now frame behavioral nudge policy as a new road to serfdom

Evidence

Criticizing this approach, the French economist Gilles Saint-Paul argues that the growing influence of the behavioral and social sciences on policy-making might lead to a “tyranny of utility.” Referring to F. A. Hayek’s The Road to Serfdom, he describes economics as the guardian of individual liberty and the values of the Enlightenment. Recent developments, he suggests, threaten these ideals: “If current trends continue, I foresee a gradual elimination of individual freedom as ‘social science’ makes progress in documenting behavioral biases, measuring happiness, and evaluating the effects of coercive policies.” Whereas Hayek feared social democracy, communism, and National Socialism, Saint-Paul sees tyranny lurking in present-day behavioral policy. Neoliberal critics of state interventionism echo this rejection. In 2014, for example, when Angela Merkel announced the creation of a government unit on behavioral policy (catching up on a development that had already taken place in most other Western countries), Mont Pèlerin Society member Philip Plickert immediately rejected the idea as driven by a paternalistic intrusion into private lives. — Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, 313

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the reader’s broader austerity/neoliberalism reading: the MPS rejection of behavioral paternalism mirrors earlier neoliberal hostility to social democracy, extending the tyranny-fear into present-day policy. — connects to: Behavioral economics repackaged government intervention during the neoliberal era — Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, 346; Behavioral economics shares origins with, rather than refutes, neoliberal thought — Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, 39; Neoliberalism holds individual inviolability alongside managed manipulation of persons — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin: The Making…, 187 (+2 more)
• SEED: Possible essay angle: the shifting referent of ‘serfdom’ in neoliberal rhetoric — from collectivism to behavioral science.

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 repackaged government intervention during the neoliberal era #corroborates (0.80) — Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, 346
• Neoliberalism holds individual inviolability alongside managed manipulation of persons #expands (0.80) — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, 187
• Neoliberalism replaces the welfare state with a traffic-cop state #qualifies (0.75)
• Neoliberal policies produced experiments whose results fed yet more neoliberal projects #corroborates (0.70) — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, 1983