Heap-ing on Lippmann: liberalising behavioural public policy

In several articles over the past decade, Shaun Hargreaves Heap has proposed a liberal, constitutional approach to behavioural public policy that conflicts with the paternalistic consequentialist approaches that have dominated the field to date. In recent years, I too have developed a behavioural public policy framework that sits within the classical liberal tradition. Recently, in commenting on my book, A Political Economy of Behavioural Public Policy, Hargreaves Heap identified similarities between my approach and that of the great 20th Century journalist and scholar, Walter Lippmann. In this article, I outline Lippmann’s arguments in his classic book, The Good Society, in some detail, and reach the conclusion that Hargreaves Heap was right in suggesting that I am a Lippmannite. Finally, given that Hargreaves Heap and I share a belief in liberalism, I summarise why I think he is a Lippmannite too.