There was a New York Times op-ed last week entitled Economics Behaving Badly which argues that politicians are becoming over-reliant on behavioral economics to solve problems it was never meant to solve.

From the article:

I recently read Sendhil Mullainathan's paper, "Psychology and Development Economics," for a class I'm taking with him. It's a fantastic read and very accessible -- I highly recommend it.  One section, however, is so thought provoking that I felt it worth replicating in full on my blog.  It's about the psychology of fairness and its role in corrupt behavior.  I have become extremely interested fairness in human behavior, and its evolutionary roots.  I think it has a lot to teach us about deve...

Generally, I argue that access to more information via technology is good for development. Access to information (e.g. prices) improves market efficiency.  Communication flows fostered by the Internet strengthen democracy.  With this information, people are empowered to debate the direction they want their societies to move in.  I've read my Amartya Sen, after all.