June 4, 2007 2:08PM # The Myth of the Rational Voter By [Brink Lindsey](https://www.cato.org/people/brink-lindsey) --- SHARE Cato adjunct scholar [Bryan Caplan](https://www.cato.org/people/caplan.html) has a fantastic new book out from Princeton University Press called [*The Myth of the Rational Voter: Why Democracies Choose Bad Policies*](http://www.amazon.com/Myth-Rational-Voter-Democracies-Policies/dp/0691129428/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/104-8698975-8437522?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1180977533&sr=1-1). In it he argues that misguided policies can’t just be blamed on special interests and the “concentrated benefits/​dispersed costs” dynamics explored by public choice economics. According to Caplan, voter irrationality — systematic erroneous biases in public opinion — is a major culprit as well. Which is to say, Caplan confirms the wisdom of H. L. Mencken’s observation: “Democracy is the theory that the people know what they want and deserve to get it good and hard.” In my opinion, Caplan’s book makes a major contribution to our understanding of the sausage grinder of democratic policymaking. So [buy it](http://www.amazon.com/Myth-Rational-Voter-Democracies-Policies/dp/0691129428/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/104-8698975-8437522?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1180977533&sr=1-1) and read it! But if you’re short on time, here are some shortcuts for getting up to speed on what Caplan has to say. First, Cato released last week a new [Policy Analysis](https://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=8262) that is an excerpt from the book. In particular, I’d heartily recommend this paper to all those who fancy themselves members of the “reality-based community” yet blithely cling to social-scientific illiteracy when it comes to basic principles of economics. The “assault on reason,” it turns out, is a pincer movement involving both sides of the political spectrum. Also, you might want to check out [this “diavlog”](http://bloggingheads.tv/video.php?id=294) between Caplan and Cato policy analyst Will Wilkinson on blog​ging​heads​.tv. Ahead of the curve as always, *Cato Unbound* devoted its [November issue](http://www.cato-unbound.org/archives/november-2006/) last year to an in-depth discussion of Caplan’s thesis. And just to whet your appetite, take a look at [this profile](http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/27/magazine/27wwln-idealab-t.html?ex=1181102400&en=5206e09085a8357d&ei=5070) of Caplan from the *New York Times* magazine. ##### Related Tags [Tax and Budget Policy](https://www.cato.org/tax-budget-policy) [![Creative Commons License](/build/cato_2020/images/creative-commons.svg)](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) This work is licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/).