The Myth of the Rational Voter
by Bryan Caplan · first published 2007
73% recommend27% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Systematic, bracing argument that voters hold biased beliefs and so democracies choose bad policies, especially on economics; suits readers who think the average voter is rational or want to understand voting behavior.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
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…difference between natural law and utilitarianism, please don't vote. (I recommend reading J S Mill [2], or Locke [3], or Mises [4], or Hayek [5]) And if you don't believe me, then you should also read The Myth of the Rational Voter, by Bryan Caplan [6]. He discusses not only why voters do vote irrationally, but also why it's rational for them to do so. [1] https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Economics_in_... [2] https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/John_Stuart_M...…
on “Remind HN: Vote” ↗…question of why we all let this happen without any resistance Because it's easy, because most of the time it doesn't affect us, and because it's hard for one voter to fix the problem. Bryan Caplan's The Myth of the Rational Voter is very good on this subject. Most people (and voters) don't even know how many Senators their state has, or their terms, let alone why complex subjects like privacy are important. Based on Caplan's book,…
on “The Criminalization of Everyday Life” ↗…a mayoral candidate who, according to the polls, is supposed to lose. I've never voted for the two major political parties in presidential elections. WRT voting more generally, see Bryan Caplan's The Myth of the Rational Voter.
on “The Cheapest Generation” ↗…you worried? Don't you think it is even possible that some other form of societal organization will upend democratic majoritarianism? Have you actually read any books on the subject like Caplan's The Myth of the Rational Voter or Hoppe's Democracy: The God that Failed? There's real arguments behind being anti-democracy, so rather than just complaining about me like a bother, insta-downvoting, and declaring it "simply wrong",…
on “You can't beat politics with new technology all the time” ↗…http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immigration_Act_of_1924 , which helped condemn millions to death in Europe. Bryan Caplan makes the case for open borders here: http://openborders.info/bryan-caplan/ . Separately, his books, The Myth of the Rational Voter and Selfish Reasons to Have More Kids, are both great, and full of brilliantly contrarian thinking.
on “Immigration is about talent, not costs” ↗…ability to say whether I can vote makes me a little uneasy, so personally I think I'd give a firm no to the idea. If you're interested in the idea, the economist Bryan Caplan wrote a book called 'The Myth of the Rational Voter' that discusses the common fallacies and provides hard evidence. http://www.amazon.com/dp/0691138737?tag=bryacaplwebp-20&...; He also has the single ugliest web page that i've ever seen for an academic…
on “Should children have the right to vote?” ↗…serious criticisms of the system we have. I suspect I am going to get more downvotes than coherent objections, but oh well. See Hans Herman Hoppe's Democracy: The God that Failed or Bryan Caplan's The Myth of the Rational Voter
on “People Aren't Smart Enough for Democracy to Flourish, Scientists Say” ↗…one of the few in recent memory to have implemented both legs. Politically conservative trade theory, about which there is consensus amongst economists, earned left-wing Paul Krugman his Nobel Prize. Myth of the Rational Voter [1] explores issues economists have put to rest but the public refuses to accept there is consensus on. Similar to how the masses insist on perceiving "hackers". [1] http://www.amazon.com/Myth-Rational-Voter-Democracies-Polici...
on “Bitcoin makes journalists say stupid things” ↗…much a long shot political philosophy that doesn't seem to understand how humans work - typical then of Economists (Full disclosure my BS was in Economics). I would instead recommend Bryan Caplan's "The myth of the rational voter."
on “Are you more likely to cast the deciding vote or die on your way to the polls?” ↗…officials, who respond to voter preferences against building stuff but who also deal with voters complaining about high rents. They're in a situation similar to the ones Bryan Caplan describes in The Myth of the Rational Voter, which is a fascinating book that deserves not just to be read but reread (http://www.amazon.com/The-Myth-Rational-Voter-Democracies/dp...).
on “San Francisco's guerrilla protest at Google buses swells into revolt” ↗…Democritus" by Scott Aaronson. "The Strategy of Conflict" by Thomas Schelling. "Guns, Germs, and Steel" and "The World until Yesterday" by Jared Diamond. "The Retreat To Commitment" by W. W. Bartley. "The Myth of the Rational Voter" by Bryan Caplan. Despite the name it made me appreciate democracy a lot more. "Wars, Guns, and Votes" by Paul Collier.
on “Ask HN: What is the most mind blowing book you've ever read?” ↗…of genuine interest, and so on, which may outweigh the relatively low probability of direct repression. There's a parallel phenomenon in political behavior that's ably explained in Brian Caplan's The Myth of the Rational Voter. You could practice really rigorous security culture and avoid creating any digital footprint worth talking about in the first place, but then you'd be socially isolated to a degree that was economically…
on “UK spies using social media data for mass surveillance” ↗In a nutshell, public choice theory. Try The Myth of the Rational Voter by Bryan Caplan which explores the phenomenon from a systems standpoint without being especially partisan or ideological.
on “The Real Class War” ↗I think you’re vastly overestimating the average voter. I would recommend reading Caplan’s “The Myth of the Rational Voter”; it’s a rather bracing book.
on “Liquid Democracy. Two Experiments on Delegation in Voting” ↗You might be interested to read "The Myth of the Rational Voter" , or other material by Bryan Caplan; he argues that the reason these policies thrive is not the uninformed public. Caplan argues that the public has strong beliefs in favor of the tariffs and protectionism,…
on “Why high fructose corn syrup replaced sugar in US” ↗