Dissemination of Family Internet Rules by Libertarian Paternalism

Abstract

To examine the future direction of policy making for protecting young people online, this paper discusses the effectiveness of protection policies based on libertarian paternalism from the standpoint of behavioral economics by referring to the efforts of the Kariya authorities, Aichi Prefecture. This paper discusses the effects of setting a default rule as a countermeasure to the human heuristic decision making process with a fear that making irrational decisions causes parents and young people to adopt a passive stance towards policy. The paper specifically analyzes whether the efforts function as libertarian paternalism, and whether the cut-off time of “9 p.m.” was reasonable for parents as a default time. Furthermore, in the case where child protection has been carried out from the perspective of paternalism, this study considers whether young people and parents adjust their behavior.