In Fairness versus Welfare (2003), Louis Kaplow and Steven Shavell provide a manifesto for normative law and economics. Therein, they spell out the foundations for contemporary law and economics based on a Paretian consequentialist welfarism and a preferentialist account of welfare. We argue in...

Although behavioral economics has criticized the empirical accuracy of the neoclassical rationality assumption, it supports the normative view that welfare-increasing choice presupposes stable and context-independent preferences. We argue that this position neglects important features of...

In light of behavioral findings regarding inconsistent individual decision-making, economists have begun to re-conceptualize the notion of welfare. One prominent account is the preference purification approach (PP), which attempts to reconstruct preferences from revealed choices based on a...

Behavioral economics and existentialism both have persuasive, informative perspectives on human choice and welfare. We argue in this paper that the weaknesses in each of their positions are answered by the strengths in the other, creating a more comprehensive vision of what human choice is and...

Robert Sugden has advanced various critiques of behavioural welfare economics, offering the notion of opportunity as an alternative. We agree with much of Sugden’s critique but argue that his approach would benefit from a broadening of the informational base beyond opportunities to include...

Behavioral paternalism raises deep concerns that do not arise in traditional welfare economics. These concerns stem from behavioral paternalism's acceptance of the defining axioms of neoclassical rationality for normative purposes, despite having rejected them as positive descriptions of...