[lbo-talk] Costs of voting (was anti-Kinky (Friedman, not sex))

[Tim Francis-Wright]

andie nachgeborenen wrote:
> 
> Actually, this is a fundamental puzzle in political
> science. If the costs of voting are more than trivial
> (and they ofen are -- campaigning in Ohio in 2004 I
> saw people stand for hours waiting to vote) and the
> likihood that voting will have any effect is
> negligible, which is certainly true, marginally
> speaking, only the last vote that tips the balance
> actually counts, why do presumptively rational people
> bother? 
> 

My favorite skewering of this staple of rational choice theory comes
from The Simpsons (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lisa's_Substitute):

Bart runs for class president against Martin Prince, and has the
support of everyone else in the class except for Martin and his
running mate.  Alas, Bart and his supporters are so sure of success
that they all go to his victory celebration--and none of them vote.
(They would make great classical economists.)

--tim francis-wright  ||  For a good prime, call 391581 * 2^216193 - 1