About this episode
This week Peter Van Doren joins us to explain the economics of decision making in politics. What is public choice theory and how does it explain what happens in a majority rules democracy? Is public choice a type of macroeconomic theory? How does ordering a series of votes change their outcome? What’s rent-seeking? What does the phrase “concentrated benefits and diffuse costs” mean? What’s the median voter theorem and how does it affect our politics in America?
Show Notes and Further Reading
Kenneth Arrow, Social Choice and Individual Values (book)
Anthony Downs, An Economic Theory of Democracy (book)
Mancur Olson, The Logic of Collective Action: Public Goods and the Theory of Groups (book)
James Buchanan and Gordon Tullock, The Calculus of Consent: Logical Foundations of Constitutional Democracy (book)
Michael E. Levine and Charles R. Plott, “Agenda Influence and Its Implications” (article)
Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) (Wikipedia article)
Say’s Law (Wikipedia article)
Pareto Efficiency (Wikipedia article)
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Get every episode summarized
Each time Free Thoughts publishes, we email you a written briefing from the transcript — the topics, who appeared, and any specific claims, with the ad reads skipped.
Email me new episodesFree for 3 shows. No card needed.
No transcript yet
This episode has not been transcribed. Request it and it moves to the front of the queue.
More episodes
More from Free Thoughts
Coming Soon: The Liberty Exchange
Free Thoughts
Fighting Government Secrecy (with Patrick Eddington)
Free Thoughts
When Is Democracy Undemocratic? (with Emily B. Finley)
Free Thoughts
Floods, Nuclear Power, and Wages (with Peter Van Doren)
Free Thoughts