The Myth of the Rational Voter
Why Democracies Choose Bad Policies
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Narrated by:
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David Drummond
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By:
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Bryan Caplan
About this listen
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. 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 reccomending that democracies do less and let markets take up the slack.
The Myth of the Rational Voter 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.
This book is published by Princeton University Press.
©2007 Princeton University Press (P)2010 Redwood AudiobooksListeners also enjoyed...
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By: Lawrence Lessig
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The Tyranny of Clichés
- How Liberals Cheat in the War of Ideas
- By: Jonah Goldberg
- Narrated by: Jonah Goldberg
- Length: 11 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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According to Goldberg, if the greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn’t exist, the greatest trick liberals ever pulled was convincing themselves they’re not ideological. Today “objective” journalists and academics and “moderate” politicians peddle some of the most radical arguments by hiding them in homespun aphorisms.
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I enjoyed it...and I'm a Democrat!!
- By Private. on 05-14-12
By: Jonah Goldberg
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Capitalism
- The Unknown Ideal
- By: Ayn Rand
- Narrated by: Anna Fields
- Length: 14 hrs and 13 mins
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The foundations of capitalism are being battered by a flood of altruism, which is the cause of the modern world's collapse. This was the view of Ayn Rand, a view so radically opposed to prevailing attitudes that it constituted a major philosophic revolution. In this series of essays, she presented her stand on the persecution of big business, the causes of war, the default of conservatism, and the evils of altruism.
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Ashame this is not taught in our
- By Karen on 08-18-07
By: Ayn Rand
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The Stakes
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Two months before the 2016 presidential election, an anonymously published essay titled "The Flight 93 Election" rallied conservatives to charge the cockpit by voting for Trump. Michael Anton, the author of that controversial viral essay, now says that the last few years have only served to prove his Flight 93 thesis: The left has become more aggressive, more vindictive, and more dangerous - and the stakes have never been higher.
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America, this is your future
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How Much is Enough?
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What constitutes the good life? What is the true value of money? Why do we work such long hours merely to acquire greater wealth? These are some of the questions that many asked themselves when the financial system crashed in 2008. This book tackles such questions head-on.The authors begin with the great economist John Maynard Keynes. In 1930 Keynes predicted that, within a century, per capita income would steadily rise, people’s basic needs would be met, and no one would have to work more than fifteen hours a week.
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Not what I expected at all!
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Expert Political Judgment
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The intelligence failures surrounding the invasion of Iraq dramatically illustrate the necessity of developing standards for evaluating expert opinion. This audiobook fills that need. Here, Philip E. Tetlock explores what constitutes good judgment in predicting future events, and looks at why experts are often wrong in their forecasts. Tetlock first discusses arguments about whether the world is too complex for people to find the tools to understand political phenomena, let alone predict the future.
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Five-star book, one-star reading
- By Christian Tarsney on 01-23-19
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The Socialist Temptation
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Just 30 years ago, socialism seemed utterly discredited. An economic, moral, and political failure, socialism had rightly been thrown on the ash heap of history after the fall of the Berlin Wall. Unfortunately, bad ideas never truly go away — and socialism has come back with a vengeance. A generation of young people who don’t remember the misery that socialism inflicted on Russia and Eastern Europe is embracing it all over again.
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Full Of Important Insights
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A Generation of Sociopaths
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What happens when a society is run by people who are antisocial? Welcome to baby boomer America. In A Generation of Sociopaths, Bruce Cannon Gibney shows how America was hijacked by the boomers, a generation whose reckless self-indulgence degraded the foundations of American prosperity.
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Honest introspection required
- By Niki on 03-31-17
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The Precipice
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In The Precipice, Noam Chomsky sheds light into the phenomenon of Trumpism, exposes the catastrophic nature and impact of Trump's policies on people, the environment, and the planet as a whole, and captures the dynamics of the brutal class warfare launched by the masters of capital to maintain and even enhance the features of a dog-eat-dog society to the unprecedented mobilization of millions of people against neoliberal capitalism, racism, and police violence.
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Of Incalculable Importance
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Who Really Cares: The Surprising Truth About Compassionate Conservatism
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In his controversial study of America's giving habits, Arthur C. Brooks shatters stereotypes about charity in America - including the myth that the political Left is more compassionate than the Right. Brooks, a preeminent public policy expert, spent years researching giving trends in America, and even he was surprised by what he found. In Who Really Cares, he identifies the forces behind American charity.
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Let's talk truth!
- By Jeff on 09-02-12
By: Arthur C. Brooks
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What listeners say about The Myth of the Rational Voter
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- No to Statism
- 11-14-18
Often Marginalizes Individual Beliefs
Among other distasteful things in this book, the author clearly subsumes that democracy is embodied in the U.S. constitution. In reality, the word democracy is nowhere found in the constitution! Having said this, Mr. Caplan would no doubt call me a "fundamentalist"; this was a chacterazation that he often used in this book.
I am convinced that Mr. Caplan is an atheist with a distinctive Darwinian humanist world view, and he makes every effort to dispense with the voting public who may have religious beliefs. Beliefs which actually affect their lives - not just their voting decisions. His references to such people are typified with the term "irrational" or "irrational rationality" (if they happen to per chance, vote the "right way").
Instead of revealing the underlying cause for democracy's inherent weaknesses, Mr. Caplan chooses instead to highlight examples of specific voter illogic. In fairness, some of the examples he uses are both interesting and humorous. He nevertheless unfailingly believes that its not the institution of democracy, but the voters who are defective. I am reminded of what Benjamin Franklin said to a woman who asked him what they (those at the Philadelphia convention) had "wrought". He said, a "republic if you can keep it". I will simply say; there is a huge difference between a Democracy and a Republic!
Additionally, David Drummond (if I didn't know otherwise) sounded as if he was the author. If only all audiobooks could be read that way!
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- Nathaniel Badgett
- 07-31-18
Very relevant
In the wake of political controversy with the election of an incompetent president, Caplan gives us sound explanation for this event. It is truly incredible how Caplan reasoned his way to a conclusion of voter irrationality that now has a 1 for 1 case study in politics biggest stage.
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- Ian Kuzma
- 10-22-18
Thoroughly enjoyable and highly recommended
Goes deep into complex subject matter while making sure you understand every word, just lovely.
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- Anonymous User
- 12-18-22
Fantastic book for understanding voter mind
Fantastic book that really puts an accurate perspective around why and what people are voting for.
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- Oliver Fernandez Avellaneda
- 05-27-23
Makes you think. And that’s good
Few people dare to commit the heresy of pointing Democracy’s flaws. This book not only does it, but also explains it with strong arguments. A must read for the person that doesn’t takes things for granted.
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- Chris Eldridge
- 06-23-21
Conclusions are not great
He's obably right about voters irrationality, and probably wrong about possible solutions (especially regarding the franchise; wouldn't "delegate economic regulation to agencies run by economists" be a lot better than "preferentially enfranchise economists & their followers"?).
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- Ricardo Maia
- 10-03-17
Excellent read
I'm not a libertarian, but loved the book. Gives a welcoming new perspective on democracy, especially if you always questioned yourself about its true efficacy.
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- Wyatt
- 05-25-16
Interesting
Overall the content of the book was interesting and the author does a good job of making his argument. The book is somewhat hindered by being in audio format.
* Even with the headers between sections, it can be hard to tell where they are. It would help it the reader had paused briefly for them.
* The author likes to do lots of block quotes surrounded by prose. Given he is typically quoting contemporary writers, it can be hard to tell when the quote starts. This is a problem audible has in general.
With those complaints in mind, the book is still quite interesting and thought provoking. I still recommend listening to it.
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- Steven Axelman
- 08-09-21
Amazing book based on tons of data
Caplan is one of the few authors who seems to use even more data than I do in his books. Using strict logic and facts, he explains why voters are terribly irrational and why democracy is a terrible way to organize society.
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- Lyle Wincentsen
- 05-12-11
Refreshing
Good book by an author who's willing to depart from conventional wisdom. While democracy is spoken of virtually everywhere else as the only possible governance model for an enlightened nation, Mr. Caplan makes a good argument that democracy as we know it has some very serious flaws.
If you like books by economists, as I do, then you'll like this one. He starts by asking a question that most people would never dare ask, then he logically pursues an answer by examining the incentives created for voters and politicians under a democratic system, how people respond to them and where that leads.
Narrator does a fine job, in my opinion.
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4 people found this helpful