The Myth of the Rational Voter

It's not just ignorance. Not even deliberate (rational) ignorance, or for that matter voter self-interest. It's outright irrationality. Shocked? Me either. But what did surprise me is the resistance that Caplan seems to find to this: it seems economists model people as “rational actors” and are reluctant to change that perception – or at least to discuss it in mixed company. Elitism is a 4-letter word.

Caplan describes potential fixes, fascinating ones involving markets and education, but that's just a tease. He quite clearly understands the impossibility of either. After all, what's the incentive?