Join us on a literary world trip!
Add this book to bookshelf
Grey
Write a new comment Default profile 50px
Grey
Subscribe to read the full book or read the first pages for free!
All characters reduced
The Myth of the Rational Voter - Why Democracies Choose Bad Policies - New Edition - cover

We are sorry! The publisher (or author) gave us the instruction to take down this book from our catalog. But please don't worry, you still have more than 500,000 other books you can enjoy!

The Myth of the Rational Voter - Why Democracies Choose Bad Policies - New Edition

Bryan Caplan

Publisher: Princeton University Press

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

Summary

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.
Available since: 08/15/2011.

Other books that might interest you

  • The Three Sources and Three Component Parts of Marxism - cover

    The Three Sources and Three...

    Vladimir Lenin

    • 0
    • 0
    • 0
    The Three Sources and Three Component Parts of Marxism (Russian:  Три источника и три составных части марксизма ) is an article written by the Russian revolutionary Vladimir Lenin and published in 1913. The article was dedicated to the thirtieth anniversary of Karl Marx's death.
    Show book
  • Au Revoir Britannia - cover

    Au Revoir Britannia

    Sylvie Bermann

    • 0
    • 0
    • 0
    From her unique perspective as former French ambassador to the UK, Sylvie Bermann examines the mistruths told by politicians surrounding the fateful 2016 Brexit referendum. Au Revoir Britannia asks the question 'How did this happen?' and exposes what she sees as the 'unrepenting' and 'inveterate' lies of the now pm, Boris Johnson. This first English edition includes a new preface exploring the future of post-Brexit Europe and Britain, and the uncertain implications of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
    Show book
  • Defeating Jihadist Terrorism - cover

    Defeating Jihadist Terrorism

    Jacques Baud

    • 0
    • 0
    • 0
    Since the early 1990s, terrorism and its victims have increased exponentially. Without any action strategy or exit solution, through political and military incompetence, stupidity and ideological blindness, Western interventions have only contributed to its development. We eliminate terrorists, but not terrorism. The solution lies in a more holistic, more subtle, more intelligent and less dogmatic approach. Terrorism is not an ideology. It is a method that takes many forms, including jihadist terrorism. Each form of terrorism is fought with a specific strategy. Based on the original texts of jihadist strategists as well as on their own analyses of attacks in France, Belgium, Great Britain and the United States, Jacques Baud explains the reasons for Western failure. He uses the analyses of Western intelligence services to decipher the mechanisms of jihadist terrorism, in order to extract strategies of action likely to avoid it or to fight it effectively and durably. The author is a former head of Swiss strategic intelligence and former head of UN peace operations doctrine. In the course of his missions in Africa and Central Asia, the author has had several encounters with jihadists in the field. 
    This audiobook is read by a synthesized voice.
    Show book
  • If You Don't Run They Can't Chase You - Stories from the Frontline in the Fight for Social Justice - cover

    If You Don't Run They Can't...

    Neil Findlay

    • 0
    • 0
    • 0
    It would be easy to despair at the state of the world today. But we must not. Indeed, we cannot.
    In this book Neil Findlay brings together first-hand testimony from people who have played crucial roles in social justice campaigns. Their stories are personal, political and unforgettable. They say a lot about dignity, integrity, courage and humanity. We can apply what we learn from them to build a sustainable and fair society for generations to come.
    Activists, social justice campaigners, trade unionists and environmentalists will find this collection inspirational, emotional and educational. And they will understand why it is titled If You Don't Run, They Can't Chase You.
    With contributions from 'Andrea', Margaret Aspinall, Alex Bennett, Brian Filling, Maria Fyfe, Elaine Holmes, Mark Lyon, Alistair Mackie, Olive McIlroy, Tony Nelson, Paul Quigley, Terry Renshaw, Dennis Skinner, Dave Smith, Jim Swan, Louise Taggart and Yvette Williams.
    
    We must examine the campaigns and struggles people have gone through, listen to their stories, study their actions and in turn look at the world now, and apply what we have learnt.
    Show book
  • Out of Mao's Shadow - The Struggle for the Soul of a New China - cover

    Out of Mao's Shadow - The...

    Philip P. Pan

    • 0
    • 0
    • 0
    Prize-winning journalist Philip P. Pan offers an unprecedented inside look at the momentous battle underway for China's future. On one side is the entrenched party elite determined to preserve its authoritarian grip on power. On the other is a collection of lawyers, journalists, entrepreneurs, activists, hustlers, and dreamers striving to build a more tolerant, open, and democratic China. The outcome of this dramatic, hidden struggle will shape China's rise to superpower status-and determine how it affects the rest of the world.From factories in the rusting industrial northeast to a tabloid newsroom in the booming south, from a small-town courtroom to the plush offices of the nation's wealthiest tycoons, Pan speaks with men and women fighting and sacrificing for change. An elderly surgeon exposes the government's cover-up of the SARS epidemic. A filmmaker investigates the execution of a student in the Cultural Revolution. A blind man is jailed for leading a crusade against forced abortions carried out under the one-child policy.Out of Mao's Shadow offers a startling perspective on China and its remarkable transformation, challenging conventional wisdom about the political apathy of the Chinese people and the notion that prosperity leads automatically to freedom. Like David Remnick's Lenin's Tomb, this is the moving story of a nation in transition, of a people coming to terms with their past.
    Show book
  • Naming Names - cover

    Naming Names

    Victor S. Navasky

    • 0
    • 0
    • 1
    Winner of the National Book Award: The definitive history of Joe McCarthy, the Hollywood blacklist, and HUAC explores the events behind the hit film Trumbo. Drawing on interviews with over one hundred and fifty people who were called to testify before the House Un-American Activities Committee—including Elia Kazan, Ring Lardner Jr., and Arthur Miller—award-winning author Victor S. Navasky reveals how and why the blacklists were so effective and delves into the tragic and far-reaching consequences of Joseph McCarthy’s witch hunts. A compassionate, insightful, and even-handed examination of one of our country’s darkest hours, Naming Names is at once a morality play and a fascinating window onto a searing moment in American cultural and political history. 
    Show book