Freedom of Contract and Paternalism : Prospects and Limits of an Economic Approach (excerpt)

This is an excerpt of my book "Freedom of Contract and Paternalism: Prospects and Limits of an Economic Approach" published by Palgrave end of 2012. It includes TOC, the Introduction, and the index. Recent regulatory ideas like libertarian paternalism and nudge indicate how policy discourse over the regulation of many domains of our life increasingly relies on the terminology, analytical methods and empirical findings of behavioral economics. "Freedom of Contract and Paternalism" offers a critical analysis of the philosophical foundations and methodological problems of an economic approach to paternalism. Looking at contract regulation in various jurisdictions as a specially controversial field, it discusses whether and how economic analysis, behavioral or otherwise, can explain and justify paternalism, the limitation of freedom of choice for the supposed benefit of those constrained