Economist Bryan Caplan addresses Jefferson Society
Professor Bryan Caplan addressed the Jefferson Literary and Debating Society on Friday, November 7, 2008, on the subject of his new book, The Myth of the Rational Voter: Why Democracies Choose Bad Policies. Caplan, an associate professor of economics at George Mason University and a Cato Institute Adjunct Scholar, supported his often counter-intuitive theories with findings from his research.
After his presentation, Professor Caplan took questions from the audience, including:
00:44:00 Who tends to score higher on the “political IQ test”: Democrats or Republicans?
00:45:00 What can be done to correct for systematic bias in the voting population?
00:47:00 Should we limit suffrage to knowledgable voters only?
00:50:00 Although average persons may not know the answers to the technical questions on the political IQ test, they do experience economics in every day life. Does that necessarily make their opinions less valuable?
00:52:00 Is the economic feasibility of a policy the only measure of its value?