D.B. public choice notes

D. B. Public choice

?Application of economics to polysci/ political process

?Thief considered good politician rather than public enemy

o People have always brought back “stolen” goods

o Important that we expose gov. as unproductive when unproductive.

o Will of the people should have impact on decisions

o Just because something is doesn’t mean it should be.

o Pork barrel politics?

o Because it is not labeled criminal, doesn’t mean it’s not impactful on society

o Only way to prevent activities is to have more understanding of those activities ?SHAME

?If it is wrong, and you betray responsibility or manipulate rules, it is not good.

?If people in congress meant it when they swore by the rules of the constitution, would be a lot better.

?Not everything legal is right, not everything illegal is wrong.

?Pork = special interest benefits….

o Magnifies problems

o Non-productive uses of resources

What else is going on???

o Pork unfortunate for those in power, because it helps expose broader public to problems.

?Ear marks are small potatoes… what’s ear mark?

?Hayek advocated denationalization of money in later years

o Descend into anarchy pretty quickly

?Compared to what?

o There is no perfectly working government

o Romantic view of democracy workability

o Must be aware of the flaws instead of romanticizing.

?Government should be constitutionally restrained, power not granted to government is with the people.

o No system of collective choice that generates outcomes that are not arbitrary.

?Most prefer discretion to rules, just want to go by “that’s bad”

?Steady deterioration of constitutions control, because most American’s don’t readily think it’s a great idea.

?One could argue move from constitutional restraints good

o Constitution is still widely regarded, most important part is commerce clause, creating a free trade zone.

o Free trade allows huge specialization of trade and progress.

o Never had a completely out of control government, had moments such as slavery or internment camps. Have High Trust society

o Government should not be in control of building no reason airports.

o Did not envision government with vast powers, envisioned a government stopped when it got beyond limited powers.

?Fact that there is support does not make things good.

?Medicare going bankrupt

o Supported because people don’t really know situatio n

o Gets approval because collective nature of government means people don’t know the full consequence.

o Rational ignorance

?Knowledge is a scarce good, not free, everyone is not fully informed.

?26 feet of books for regulations, lettuce growers association randomly

picked out.

?Government does so much, it is impossible to know it all, it is impossible

to make informed votes

?Gaining knowledge takes time, can’t spend infinite time reading public

policy.

?Most people do/should attending to thing affecting them most directly.

?No voter will have a discernible impact on the outcome, every vote does

not count.

?Nothing is accomplished by an individual vote,

?In politics you can make the same mistake over and over again, you have no incentive of looking for further error.

?There is no cost when voting like a moron. May be personal feeling of guilt, but there is no incentive to actually see moronic action.

?At the time of voting, there is no consequence to anyone. People are

unconstrained when expressing feelings.

?Voting compared to shopping: Usually you choose exactly what you want, in voting you pick from cart a,b, and c. Don’t know everything in the cart, but see

the one you like most.

?It’s not necessarily the best stuff in the cart, some of it is mislabeled,

some of it put in for other’s sake.

o Cheap shot at democracy? Inevitable that democracy is not perfect.

?Too many not aware of flaws

?Rent seeking

?Features of mini van

?TV manufactures lobby candidate to make sure it’s in car, even if people

don’t want TV.

?Why is that ideal?

o That decision not proper for government, but we do it with

many aspects of our lives.

?What is the proper role of government?

?Government should do for us what we cannot do well for ourselves. ?Most prominent view of government is rose colored. Blame the individual politician.

?Problem isn’t particular people, it is the incentives that skew actions and reasons for actions.

?Work to build freer culture, more understanding culture.

?Political process cannot lead better culture.