The Myth of the Rational Voter: Why Democracies Choose Bad Policies Audiobook (Free)

The best obstacle to sound economic policy isn’t entrenched special interests or rampant lobbying, but the popular misconceptions, irrational beliefs, and personal biases held by ordinary voters. That is economist Bryan Caplan’s sobering assessment in this provocative and eye-opening audiobook. Caplan, a self-described libertarian/anarchist, argues that voters continuously elect politicians who either talk about their biases or else pretend to, leading to bad policies winning over and over about The Myth of the Rational Voter: Why Democracies Choose Poor Policies by popular demand.

Boldly calling into question our most elementary assumptions on the subject of American politics, Caplan contends that democracy fails specifically because it does what voters want. Via an analysis of Us citizens’ voting behavior and opinions on a variety of economic problems, he makes the convincing case that non-economists have problems with four prevailing biases: they underestimate the intelligence of the market mechanism, distrust foreigners, undervalue the benefits of conserving labor, and pessimistically believe the overall economy is certainly going from poor to worse. Caplan lays out several bold methods to make democratic government work better-for example, urging financial educators to spotlight correcting popular myths and recommending that democracies perform less and allow markets take in the slack.

The Myth of the Rational Voter takes an unflinching take a look at how individuals who vote under the influence of false beliefs ultimately end up getting government that delivers lousy results. Using the upcoming presidential election time of year drawing nearer, this thought-provoking book will spark a long-overdue reappraisal of our elective program.