Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/339072 
Year of Publication: 
2025
Series/Report no.: 
Tinbergen Institute Discussion Paper No. TI 2025-068/I
Publisher: 
Tinbergen Institute, Amsterdam and Rotterdam
Abstract: 
Paternalistic policies are pervasive, yet little is known about how relationships between decision-makers and targets shape them. This paper examines how social proximity - the degree to which individuals share identity-defining traits - influences paternalistic interventions. In an experiment with a representative U.S. sample, we manipulate proximity and distinguish between preference-responsive paternalism, reflecting one's own preferences, and belief-responsive paternalism, reflecting beliefs about others' preferences. Social proximity leaves the overall frequency of restrictions unchanged but shifts their driver: low proximity fosters preference-responsive paternalism, while high proximity promotes belief-responsive paternalism. Non-religious and independents restrict least; Christians and Republicans restrict more dissimilar others.
Subjects: 
Paternalism
Social identity
Social proximity
Experiment
JEL: 
C91
D12
D15
D91
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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