I have been reading a column in the Sydney Morning Herald by their Economics Writer Jessica Irvine. She writes:

Kahneman says we can use this knowledge about our irrationality to influence public policy. We should make it so people have to opt out of things we find socially desirable and opt in to things we think undesirable. Innate inertia will do the rest. (My italics).

I don’t know whether she is quoting Kahneman in the second sentence, or quoting herself, but when I read it I was struck by the glib use of we and people. Who exactly are the “we” that will determine what is socially desirable and who are the “people” that will do the opting?