It’s called “Why Some People Shouldn’t Vote.” And if you think you’ve anticipated his whole argument, you’re probably wrong. At least I was.
It’s called “Why Some People Shouldn’t Vote.” And if you think you’ve anticipated his whole argument, you’re probably wrong. At least I was.
Nov 6 2006
A number of readers have sent in links to articles suggesting that climate engineering may be feasible. For example, T.M.L. Wigley writes, Future climate change may be reduced through mitigation (reductions in greenhouse gas emissions) or through geoengineering. Most geoengineering approaches, however, do not address...
Nov 6 2006
Gary Becker, a Nobel Laureate in part for his work on the economics of crime, discusses Latin America's problem. I would recommend that they use both the "stick" and the "carrot" to fight crime. The "stick" included apprehending more criminals, punishing severely criminals who commit major crimes, and not punishing se...
Nov 5 2006
It's called "Why Some People Shouldn't Vote." And if you think you've anticipated his whole argument, you're probably wrong. At least I was.
READER COMMENTS
Ragerz
Nov 5 2006 at 8:42pm
I agree with Mankiw. But ONLY if you assume an ill-informed voter AND that informed voters have the interests of non-voters in mind enough such that random voting does not lead to superior results for non-voters.
Ignorance, thankfully, is something that can be corrected. Most people who advocate more widespread voting (for intellectual rather than partisan reasons) are not advocating ignorant voting. They are advocating that people become informed about the candidates and issues and then vote.
Especially since not everyone who is informed and votes is going to have the best interests of the ill-informed non-voter at heart. The argument for voting is basically an argument that one should ensure, to the degree one is able, that one’s interests are not trampled upon.
Marko
Nov 6 2006 at 4:00am
As soon as I read Mankiw’s piece I came to this blog to see Brian’s reaction. Unfortunately, there really wasn’t any. I’m still hoping for a more detailed post on this topic, since it is so critical to Brian’s forthcoming book.
Anyhow, what seems strange to me is that although I don’t think Mankiw’s positive analysis is right, prescriptions seem correct. I don’t really know a lot about the methodology of economics, but is this strange, or it happens frequently?
JD
Nov 6 2006 at 11:24am
Mankiw’s argument fails to account for the “Miracle of Aggregation” . Who cares about random noise- as long as it is truly random, it doesn’t matter.
Brennan and Lomasky’s theory of experessive voting can certainly account for both facts presented in Mankiw’s piece- low turnout and roll off voting.
From the instrumental voter point of view the voting puzzles still exist: Why does anyone turnout to vote? Conditional on voting, why doesn’t everyone vote for themselves?
Randy
Nov 6 2006 at 12:57pm
I think the right to vote is important, but that actually voting is not. It is important that the people maintain the power to throw officials out of office, but not important that everyone participate in deciding who will hold office.
I also think that voting in the hopes that a politician will make my life better is akin to praying that the rain will stop. My time is far better spent working for a promotion – or buying an umbrella.
Bill
Nov 7 2006 at 12:47am
Nothing new here…
I love econ, but I find it distressing that often when I hear of a new econ theory, it’s just a subject I’ve been casually discussing with my (non-economist) frieds for years. Shouldn’t professionals come up with stuff that’s not obvious to laymen like me?
aaron
Nov 7 2006 at 8:40am
I’ve thought this for many years and it reflects my voting style.
This year I might make an exception. If I vote today, instead of doing research, I’m going to hedge my votes by simply voting against all incumbants.
Dean
Nov 8 2006 at 8:53pm
I agree with Mankiw in that it is better if some people stay home. Many people vote but don’t know where the candidates stand on issues or who they are. An example of this is Sean Hannity’s “Man on the Street” where he shows random pictures of Peloski, Reid, hasting, Jessica Simpson, Alec Baldwin, and Paris Hilton, the truly bad thing was everyone could identify Simpson, Baldwin, Hilton but couldn’t identify Peloski, Reid, Hastings, or where the candidates stand on issues. Also some people have no idea who is in office, I remember hearing someone say Clinton was still the president and some other people had no clue who Rumsfeld, Cheney, or Rove was. Really if you can’t identify important officials in the government you shouldn’t vote.
Comments are closed.