The Myth of the Rational Voter, by Bryan Caplan,
Cato Unbound, 6 Nov 2006
Posits that voters mistaken beliefs, in particular about economics, do not "cancel each other out" but instead they compound; lead essay of forum on "Majority Fools: Irrationality and the Limits of Democracy"
From the time of Adam Smith, if not earlier, economists have complained that economic policy was based on misconceptions, and tried to make a difference by correcting their students' prejudices against markets, international trade, and so on. Economists preserve this tradition to this day when they teach undergraduates, write for popular audiences, or talk amongst themselves ... [W]hen economists get the public's ear, they should not bore them with the details of national income statistics ... They should challenge the public's misconceptions about markets, foreigners, saving labor, and progress.
Why Intellectuals Still Support Socialism, by Peter G. Klein,
Mises Daily, 15 Nov 2006
Examines the underlying reasons why so many academics support socialist ideas, not reflecting those of the general population, and how this changed from the mid-20th century
Even in ... economics, 63 percent of the faculty in the Carnegie study identified themselves as liberal, compared with 72 percent in anthropology ... The Cardiff and Klein study finds an average D:R ratio in economics departments of 2.8:1—lower than the sociologists' 44:1, to be sure, but higher than that of ... engineering ... and finance. A survey of American Economic Association members ... finds that most economists support safety regulations, gun control, redistribution, public schooling, and anti-discrimination laws ... The US federal government employs at least 3,000 economists ...
