Myth of the Rational Voter

Prof. Bryan Caplan discusses his controversial book, The Myth of the Rational Voter: Why Democracies Choose Bad Policies. His thesis is that a majority of voters err in their thinking on economics issues, and that these errors can be grouped under 4 different irrational biases, which Caplan calls the make-work bias, the anti-foreign bias, the pessimistic bias, and the anti-market bias. These errors make it difficult to enact effective policies through the democratic process. Caplan's argument responds to the claim in conventional public choice theory that voters are rationally ignorant, as well as to critics of that theory.

Credits: This lecture was delivered in 2009 at the Metropolitan State College of Denver School of Business, as part of the Exploring Economic Freedom Lecture Series, directed by Prof. Alexandre Padilla. This video was produced and directed by Scott Houck, and edited by Adrienne Christy. Video production provided by the Educational Technology Center at Metro State State College of Denver. Video used by LearnLiberty.org with permission.

Watch more videos: http://lrnlbty.co/y5tTcY

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[MrPalmersGamehendge]

Shit I didn't need a social scientist to tell me that the majority of voters know little about politics or the economy.

[TomWoodsTV]

Way to watch five minutes of the video and not realize the other 45 are spent refuting the first five. But by all means go ahead and make a comment based on five minutes of viewing. That's fair.

[Whiteknight Ofhope]

Seeing it as the miracle of aggregation hasn't stopped Andrew Jackson, Teddy Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, FDR or Obama, I don't see how any honest person could have assumed that this was true or reliable to begin with. Sounds like the under-education of the supposedly educated. Thank you for taking it seriously and debunking this anyway though. Very good work.

[Whiteknight Ofhope]

Here's the problem, Bryan. Hitler was democratically elected, by mostly informed voters who had great incentives to vet their next leader... This means that your basic premise is bunk. It doesn't work out that way every time because tyrants and madmen always cloak themselves in the mantle of the common and working man. If you look at all of history, democracy has a bad track record of preventing elites who don't deserve power from taking hold of it. So we're back to square one only 5 minutes in.

[TabooRealities]

People should watch the Peter Schiff was right video, or "Ron Paul accurately predicts the US economic meltdown...". To say these people were not predicting exactly what was going to happen and why is very disingenuous.

[TabooRealities]

He said the financial crisis wasn't foreseeable... What about the hundred or so Austrian economists who foresaw it? What about Ron Paul who described exactly what was going to happen and how it would end back in 2003? That seems disingenuous of him. And his explanation about rational irrationality makes since, but the real reason is there is an organized effort to mislead voters about economics to gain political control.

[Utopor]

That's like ... the first 2 minutes of the video... The rest of it has a lot more in it! haha

[MrCharles7994]

None of the magnitude of the apparent finicial armaggedon that the Austrians predict. I have seen nothing that suggests that their predictions are, in any way, valid. They simply haveng been any more right than any other economists.

And evidence of this claim?

[MrCharles7994]

Austrian economists has predicted the financial crisis without fail for the past century.

It was only off in its predictions by decades.

A clock right twice a day and all that jazz.

[MrCharles7994]

Only true with CERTAIN goods. Global warming is a GREAT example for when private irrationality destroys the public good without causing damage to the individual itself.

[mikie8865]

these are the"professors" they are turning out today? whoah...that's scary!

[blenderhedd]

Or much of anything other than which Kardashian has a better smelling cooch.