… is from page 162 of Deirdre McCloskey’s superb forthcoming – in November – book, Equality of Permission; “Thaler” is Richard Thaler, who in 2017 was awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics for his work in behavioral economics; one of Thaler’s books is Nudge (co-authored with Cass Sunsteain), which proposes the oxymoronic policy of “libertarian paternalism”:
Paul Krugman enthusiastically tweeted about Thaler’s prize: “Yes! Behavioral econ is the best thing to happen to the field in generations.” Thaler gives Paul and the other plausible illiberals another reason to recommend bossing people around. For their own good, you understand.
