Election Boilerplate Bryan Caplan By Bryan Caplan, Nov 6 2018 SHARE POST: What do I think about today’s election? Basically the same thing I think about every election. For starters: I hate politics, both popular ideologies are insipid, the main parties’ differences are primarily rhetorical, politicians are evil, voters are irrational, and democracy is rule by demagogues. P.S. Whether or not you choose to participate, I strongly advise you to build a Beautiful Bubble. RELATED CONTENT Bryan Caplan on the Myth of the Rational Voter Bryan Caplan, of George Mason University and blogger at EconLog, talks about his book, The Myth of the Rational Voter: Why Democracies Choose Bad Policies. Caplan argues that democracies work well in giving voters what they want but unfortunately, what voters want isn't particularly wise, especially when it comes to economic policy. He outlines a series of systematic biases we often have on economic topics and explains why we have little or no incentive to improve our understanding of the world ... Read This Article
RELATED CONTENT Bryan Caplan on the Myth of the Rational Voter Bryan Caplan, of George Mason University and blogger at EconLog, talks about his book, The Myth of the Rational Voter: Why Democracies Choose Bad Policies. Caplan argues that democracies work well in giving voters what they want but unfortunately, what voters want isn't particularly wise, especially when it comes to economic policy. He outlines a series of systematic biases we often have on economic topics and explains why we have little or no incentive to improve our understanding of the world ... Read This Article
Nov 6 2018 Productivity No more public mass transit infrastructure Scott Sumner This past April, I spend 25 days in Japan, where I took dozens of trips on railroads and subways. In each case, the train left exactly on time and arrived on time. This past weekend, my wife and I decided to take a ride on the "Gold Line" from Union Station in downtown LA to Arcadia, a trip scheduled to last 35 minutes... 24 Read More
Nov 6 2018 Competition Competition Between the Obese and the Thin Pierre Lemieux A few days ago on a flight, I faced the risk of being squashed by an enormous man in the seat next to me. (And I mean enormous: an extreme obese.) I deployed the usual defenses to preserve my space, but fat was still overflowing over the armrest. This experience gave me an opportunity to think again about the standard ... 30 Read More
Nov 6 2018 Behavioral Economics Election Boilerplate Bryan Caplan What do I think about today's election? Basically the same thing I think about every election. For starters: I hate politics, both popular ideologies are insipid, the main parties' differences are primarily rhetorical, politicians are evil, voters are irrational, and democracy is rule by demagogues. P.S. Wheth... 14 Read More