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The Myth of the Rational Voter: Why Democracies Choose Bad Policies - Couverture souple

Caplan, Bryan

 
9780691138732: The Myth of the Rational Voter: Why Democracies Choose Bad Policies
Couverture souple
ISBN 10 : 0691138737 ISBN 13 : 9780691138732
Editeur : Princeton University Press, 2008

Synopsis

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.

Les informations fournies dans la section « Synopsis » peuvent faire référence à une autre édition de ce titre.

À propos de l'auteur

Bryan Caplan is associate professor of economics at George Mason University. He is the coeditor of the Weblog EconLog.

Les informations fournies dans la section « A propos du livre » peuvent faire référence à une autre édition de ce titre.

Éditeur
Princeton University Press
Date d'édition
2008
Langue
anglais
ISBN 10 
0691138737
ISBN 13 
9780691138732
Reliure
Broché
Nombre de pages
296
Coordonnées du fabricant
non disponible
Personne responsable
GPSR Kontakt
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