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Field
Abstract
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Before
We study a decision situation in which a person ("the paternalist") is given the opportunity to intervene in order to prevent another person ("the paternalee") from making a choice that will not reflect his or her true preferences, i.e., prevent the person from making a mistake. In a between-subject design we vary the mode of intervention available to the paternalist: (i) to restrict the paternalee's freedom of choice or (ii) to provide the paternalee with information. We also vary the reason why the paternalee is making the mistake: (i) because they have made a mistake in their own calculations or (ii) because they have been given incorrect information. We fix the paternalists' beliefs about the effectiveness of the interventions, with both interventions being fully effective. We conduct an online experiment in which n = 8000 paternalists, recruited from the general population of the U.S., make real decisions for paternalees recruited through an online labor market.
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After
We study a decision situation in which a person ("the paternalist") is given the opportunity to intervene in order to prevent another person ("the paternalee") from making a choice that will not reflect his or her true preferences, i.e., prevent the person from making a mistake. In a between-subject design we vary the mode of intervention available to the paternalist: (i) to restrict the paternalee's freedom of choice or (ii) to provide the paternalee with information. We also vary the reason why the paternalee is making the mistake: (i) because they have made a mistake in their own calculations or (ii) because they have been given incorrect information. We fix the paternalists' beliefs about the effectiveness of the interventions, with both interventions being fully effective. We conduct an online experiment in which n = 8000 paternalists, recruited from the general population of the U.S., make real decisions for paternalees recruited through an online labor market.
In a second step, we try to disentangle the motives of freedom of choice and resentment by using an additional treatment with n = 6000 paternalist, again recruited from the general U.S. population.
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