|
|
Books : The Myth of the Rational Voter: Why Democracies Choose Bad Policies (New Edition)In association with Amazon.comby: Bryan Caplan  List Price: $17.95 Amazon.com's Price: $12.21 You Save: $5.74 (32%)Prices subject to change. Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
This item ships for FREE with Super Saver Shipping.
Binding: PaperbackDewey Decimal Number: 324 EAN: 9780691138732 ISBN: 0691138737 Label: Princeton University Press Manufacturer: Princeton University Press Number Of Items: 1 Number Of Pages: 296 Publication Date: August 24, 2008 Publisher: Princeton University Press Studio: Princeton University Press Sales Rank: 9814 Related Items:
Editorial Review: Product Description: The greatest obstacle to sound economic policy is not entrenched special interests or rampant lobbying, but the popular misconceptions, irrational beliefs, and personal biases held by ordinary voters. This is economist Bryan Caplan's sobering assessment in this provocative and eye-opening book. Caplan argues that voters continually elect politicians who either share their biases or else pretend to, resulting in bad policies winning again and again by popular demand. Boldly calling into question our most basic assumptions about American politics, Caplan contends that democracy fails precisely because it does what voters want. Through an analysis of Americans' voting behavior and opinions on a range of economic issues, he makes the convincing case that noneconomists suffer from four prevailing biases: they underestimate the wisdom of the market mechanism, distrust foreigners, undervalue the benefits of conserving labor, and pessimistically believe the economy is going from bad to worse. Caplan lays out several bold ways to make democratic government work better--for example, urging economic educators to focus on correcting popular misconceptions and recommending that democracies do less and let markets take up the slack. The Myth of the Rational Voter takes an unflinching look at how people who vote under the influence of false beliefs ultimately end up with government that delivers lousy results. With the upcoming presidential election season drawing nearer, this thought-provoking book is sure to spark a long-overdue reappraisal of our elective system. Average Rating:
 Rating:  - Well worth the purchaseThe first half of this book is excellent. Caplan does a great job breaking down the empirical data he uses to make his case that voters are dogmatically irrational when it comes to economic issues in a way that anyone could understand what he's talking about. Even more, he does this without sacrificing the intellectual rigor needed to make such a controversial argument as he provides all relevant statistical data he's relying on. The last few chapters, though, were a bit of a let down. ... Read More Rating:  - brilliant workIf there's one economics book you read this year please make it "The Myth of the Rational Voter" by Bryan Caplan. It's a great read, especially after the introductory tables/etc past page 80. It might end up being as revolutionary and influential in public choice theory as Robert Bork's Antitrust Paradox was for industrial organization theory. Basically, economists have tried to maintain that rational consumers at the marketplace are also rational at the ballot box. To explain democracy's ... Read More Rating: - GoodI really appreciated this purchase. The book is a methodological novelty and I am sure that many authors will cite it. Rating: - Sad but trueThis book will give you a great deal of insight on why America functions the way it does. It is not a pretty picture. Basically, people vote for politicians who tell them what they want to hear, regardless of any logical inconistencies, because they don't trouble themselves to understand the issues in a non-emotional way. Given what we have heard from our presidential candidates lately, this goes a long way towards explaining why we elect who we do. Rating:  - Huh?Caplan does not seem to appreciate the fact that this country was never supposed to be a democracy in the first place. The United States of America is a republic, not a democracy. In fact, until the early 1900s the word "democracy" was treated as a dirty word of sorts, and you never heard it in political speeches. Now politicians keen on vote buying stress the advantages (to their careers) of democracy. This book says that a democracy is not a market, but a commons. No, a true democracy ... Read More Browse for similar items by category:
|
||