Rational Irrationality and the Microfoundations of Political Failure

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Rational Irrationality and the Microfoundations of Political Failure

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Caplan, Bryan

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Bryan Caplan

Abstract

Models of inefficient political failure have been criticized for implicitly assuming the irrationality of voters (Wittman, 1989, 1995, 1999; Coate and Morris, 1995). Building on Caplan's (1999) model of "rational irrationality", the current paper maintains that the assumption of voter irrationality is both theoretically and empirically plausible. It then examines microfoundational criticisms of four classes of political failure models: rent-seeking, pork-barrel politics, bureaucracy, and economic reform. In each of the four cases, incorporating simple forms of privately costless irrationality makes it possible to clearly derive the models' standard conclusions. Moreover, it follows that efforts to mitigate political failures will be socially suboptimal, as most of the literature implicitly assumes. It is a mistake to discount the empirical evidence for these models on theoretical grounds. Copyright 2001 by Kluwer Academic Publishers

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Article provided by Springer in its journal Public Choice.

Volume (Year): 107 (2001)
Issue (Month): 3-4 (June)
Pages: 311-31
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Handle: RePEc:kap:pubcho:v:107:y:2001:i:3-4:p:311-31

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Bryan Caplan, 2009. "Irrational principals," The Review of Austrian Economics, Springer, vol. 22(2), pages 159-167, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
Geoffrey Dunbar & Juan Tu & Ruqu Wang & Xiaoting Wang, 2006. "Rationalizing Irrational Beliefs," Working Papers 1033, Queen's University, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
Justin Fox, 2007. "Government transparency and policymaking," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 131(1), pages 23-44, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
Bryan Caplan, 2002. "Systematically Biased Beliefs About Economics: Robust Evidence of Judgemental Anomalies from the Survey of Americans and Economists on the Economy," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 112(479), pages 433-458, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
Filoso, Valerio, 2008. "Sulla domanda di economia irrazionale: Naomi Klein vs. Milton Friedman
[On the Demand of Irrational Economics: Naomi Klein vs. Milton Friedman]," MPRA Paper 9452, University Library of Munich, Germany. [Downloadable!]
Eric Crampton & Andrew Farrant, 2004. "Expressive and Instrumental Voting: The Scylla and Charybdis of Constitutional Political Economy," Public Economics 0401002, EconWPA. [Downloadable!]
Other versions:
- Eric Crampton & Andrew Farrant, 2004. "Expressive and Instrumental Voting: The Scylla and Charybdis of Constitutional Political Economy," Constitutional Political Economy, Springer, vol. 15(1), pages 77-88, 03. [Downloadable!]
Heinemann, Friedrich, 2004. "Explaining Reform Deadlocks," ZEW Discussion Papers 04-39, ZEW - Zentrum für Europäische Wirtschaftsforschung / Center for European Economic Research. [Downloadable!]
Randall Holcombe, 2005. "Government growth in the twenty-first century," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 124(1), pages 95-114, July. [Downloadable!] (restricted)

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