The four cherished biases of Otto Normalverbraucher

Four important opinions of average voters that differ from the views of the trained economist.
The average voter …

  1. Does not understand or appreciates the way markets work (and thus favors regulation and is suspicious of the profit motive)
  2. Prefers local over foreign (and thus tends to be protectionist)
  3. Equates prosperity with employment rather than with production (and thus overvalues the preservation of exiting jobs)
  4. Usually thinks economic conditions are getting worse (and thus favors government intervention in the economy)

From a discussion in the New Yorker about Bryan Caplan’s book “The Myth of the Rational Voter”.

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