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The Promise And Peril Of Paternalistic Approaches To Flood Risk, Alexander B. Lemann
The Promise And Peril Of Paternalistic Approaches To Flood Risk, Alexander B. Lemann
University of Colorado Law Review
Our country's ever-growing exposure to flood risk has been the target of policy reform for decades. To many experts, it is clear that we must stop subsidizing flood-prone development and begin the process of moving people away from flood-prone areas. And yet, despite the seemingly obvious benefits of abandoning areas that will be permanently underwater in a generation, flood-prone living has been a difficult habit to kick.
Examining the problem against the background of the philosophical literature on paternalism helps show why. Paternalism- government intervention in people's choices for the good of those same people-has long been controversial. The insistence …