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Introduction to the Review Symposium on Robert Sugden's The Community of Advantage

The publication of Robert Sugden’s The Community of Advantage in 2018 might very well turn out to be a landmark event in welfare economics. In the book, Sugden presents a highly original view on what the main lessons of behavioral economics should be for welfare analyses; a view that radically deviates from the libertarian paternalism underlying the Nudge literature and other views that have been put forward in behavioral welfare economics. All the prevailing versions of behavioral welfare economics somehow want to retain the normative authority of individuals’ preferences (or of a proper subset of individuals’ preferences; preferences that are not clearly flawed by cognitive errors and mistakes). As Sugden cogently argues, the evidence gathered in behavioral economics fails to sustain this deference to preferences. With his own opportunity criterion, Sugden proposes a break with this long-lived tradition in welfare economics. The radicality of Sugden’s view goes beyond this as he argues that the addressee of welfare analysis should not be a fictitious benevolent social planner, but rather citizens, as potential parties to mutually beneficial agreements. We are happy to present this Review Symposium issue on The Community of Advantage in which prominent scholars, all with different outlooks and predilections, comment on the book, prompting Sugden to clarify and sharpen his own views. We want to thank Douglas Bernheim, Geoffrey Brennan, Malte Dold, Hartmut Kliemt, Mozaffar Quizilbash, Mario Rizzo, Cass Sunstein, Johanna Thoma and Robert Sugden for their fine work. Many thanks also to our reviewers for their contribution. Our greatest gratitude goes to Constanze Binder, the guest editor of this Review Symposium. Without her relentless efforts, this issue would not have seen the light. What is more, Constanze’s meticulous comments on earlier drafts of the articles published in this issue surely helped in improving their focus and clarity. Sadly, personal circumstances prevented her from finishing her own contribution in time. We hope that she will publish her own contribution soon and shed her own light on The Community of Advantage.