Caplan cerca di spiegarlo sfatando alcuni miti miti.
"...there is only the tiniest correlation between income and party..."
"...if voters were truly selfish, they would negotiate amicable
settlements and take what they could get, instead of zealously fighting the same
battles year after year..."
"...even if the American public put aside
ideological and religious differences, unselfish voting could easily be
dangerous. If people are mistaken about how to make society better off, their
good intentions will produce bad consequences. A selfless doctor who believes
that leeches will cure cancer is dangerous. So is a selfless voter who truly
believes that high tariffs will cure unemployment..."
"...Voters are
frequently wrong in the same way. This is particularly clear in economics. If
you've never studied economics, you're not equally likely to oversell or
downplay the benefits of free trade. Instead, people who know nothing about
economics are staunch protectionists, and people who know a lot of economics are
avid free-traders..."
