Bøger af Bryan Caplan

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 recommending 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.

Som vælger i Danmark, kan det være uoverskueligt at orientere sig om de 15 opstillingsberettigede partiers individuelle politik. Desuden kan den enkelte vælger konkludere, at netop deres stemme ingen effekt har på det endelige valgresultat. Derfor er det rationelt for vælgerne at stemme ud fra deres følelser frem for konkret viden om, hvilket partis politik, der skaber det allerbedste fremtidige Danmark.Den største hindring for sund økonomisk politik skyldes ikke særinteresser eller udbredt lobbyisme, men almindelige vælgeres misforståelser, irrationelle overbevisninger og personlige skævheder… Ja, velkommen til denne øjenåbnende og provokerende bestseller bog skrevet af den kendte økonom Bryan Caplan, hvis bog bl.a. er udnævnt til "The Best Political Book of the Year" af the New York Times med den oprindelige titel: "The Myth Of The Rationel Voter."I bogen, opstiller Caplan flere dristige måder at få en demokratisk regering til at fungere bedre - for eksempel ved at opfordre økonomiske undervisere til at fokusere på at rette op på populære misforståelser og anbefale, at demokratier gør mindre og lader markederne tage fat.Myten om den rationelle vælger tager et ufortrødent blik på, hvordan folk, der stemmer under indflydelse af falske overbevisninger, i sidste ende ender med en regering, der ikke leverer resultater.En fantastisk international bestseller som alle i Danmark med interesse i de politiske virkemidler og demokratiets kræfter bør læse.

"Despite its wickedly subversive premise, Mr. Caplan's book is cheery and intellectually honest... And the bedrock of his argument is solid: Modern parenting is insane."--Wall Street Journal