false http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1177378072m/698866.jpg 698866 2 <p>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.</p><p>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.</p><p><i>The Myth of the Rational Voter</i> 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.</p> 685181 16 4 2007 The Myth of the Rational Voter: Why Democracies Choose Bad Policies total:94|5:28|4:41|3:19|2:5|1:1| 94 372 277 26 3 1 false false Wed Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Tue Jul 31 06:54:43 -0700 2007 Mon Sep 03 06:44:07 -0700 2007
...more...]]> 5 1 false false Wed Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Mon Jul 30 08:54:08 -0700 2007 Thu Aug 16 09:57:00 -0700 2007 more...]]> 3 1 false false Wed Jul 30 19:16:49 -0700 2008 Thu Jul 31 18:17:22 -0700 2008 more...]]> 4 0 false false Tue Feb 26 20:38:11 -0800 2008 Tue Feb 26 20:38:11 -0800 2008 more...]]> 4 0 false false Fri May 22 07:56:01 -0700 2009 Fri May 22 08:50:58 -0700 2009
This book blew me away with the way it approached both the field and specific issues of democracy. It's one of only a few books (that I've seen) that...more...]]> 3 0 false false Tue Dec 30 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Sun Jan 04 15:18:27 -0800 2009 Sun Jan 04 15:20:50 -0800 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Sat Jan 31 06:08:53 -0800 2009 Sat Jan 31 06:13:28 -0800 2009 There's lot of non intuitive nuggets, in this book that I didn't know before.
The only downside is that it reads like a research paper (lots of quoted material, in depth analysis of research performed on the subject). I would have preferr...more...]]> 2 0 false false Thu Jun 19 11:36:10 -0700 2008 Thu Jun 19 11:42:59 -0700 2008 more...]]> 3 0 false false Sun May 17 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun May 17 12:01:08 -0700 2009 Sun May 17 12:03:09 -0700 2009 SIVH = special interest voter hypothesis is not true. Males are more pro-choice, elderly support less Medicaid etc.

]]> 5 0 false false Sat Nov 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Sat Sep 05 10:53:35 -0700 2009 Sat Sep 05 10:57:23 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Thu Sep 11 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Thu Sep 11 13:41:16 -0700 2008 Fri Sep 12 05:33:12 -0700 2008 more...]]> 5 0 false false Fri Nov 16 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Thu Aug 28 11:16:26 -0700 2008 Thu Aug 28 11:21:39 -0700 2008 more...]]> 3 0 false false Mon Oct 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Mon Jun 11 19:42:24 -0700 2007 Sat Nov 10 12:18:33 -0800 2007 more...]]> 4 0 false false Mon Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Tue Mar 18 19:14:35 -0700 2008 Tue Mar 18 19:16:51 -0700 2008
Nevertheless, this book is a must-read for people interested in communicating in polit...more...]]> 4 0 false false Sat Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun Mar 15 11:54:00 -0700 2009 Wed Aug 19 21:21:48 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Mon Jun 02 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Sun May 18 14:16:00 -0700 2008 Tue Jun 03 04:39:57 -0700 2008 Now that I have finished this book, I am glad that I read it, ...more...]]> 0 0 false false Tue Jul 15 11:54:50 -0700 2008 Tue Jul 15 12:01:59 -0700 2008 more...]]> 4 0 false false Sat Dec 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Tue Nov 13 09:39:13 -0800 2007 Fri Dec 21 05:19:08 -0800 2007 more...]]> 3 0 false false Fri Jun 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Wed Sep 05 21:05:52 -0700 2007 Wed Sep 05 21:10:50 -0700 2007
Lots of good fodder for debate, however. The book should not be ignored.]]> 4 0 false false Tue Mar 17 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon Jan 07 12:18:06 -0800 2008 Tue Mar 17 21:38:04 -0700 2009 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=698866