• Corpus ID: 5835590

Behavioral Economics and Public Policy : Reflections on the Past and Lessons for the Future

@inproceedings{Poterba2010BehavioralEA,
  title={Behavioral Economics and Public Policy : Reflections on the Past and Lessons for the Future},
  author={James M. Poterba},
  year={2010}
}

• J. Poterba
• Published 2010
• Economics

Insights from behavioral economics have already influenced several areas of public policy, and these contributions are likely to continue to have important effects in the future. Regulatory policies and tax policies toward private pensions are examples of this influence. In the last decade policymakers have drawn heavily on findings from behavioral economics in designing regulations for defined contribution retirement saving plans. This is particularly evident in a series of policy changes that have enabled firms to adopt automatic enrollment strategies in their 401(k) plans. My comments will chronicle developments in this area and then describe some of the fundamental challenges that arise in applying behavioral economics to make welfare prescriptions for policy analysis. I close by speculating about future research directions that may be influenced by the growing importance of behavioral economics.