[lbo-talk] anti-Kinky (Friedman, not sex)

Miles Jackson cqmv at pdx.edu
Thu Sep 7 15:45:41 PDT 2006


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?
>
>
>
>
Simple answer: Despite the armchair speculation of many philosophers and economists, people aren't rational utilitarians. This view of human beings as "utility maximizers" has been refuted in literally hundreds of well-controlled psychological studies. --Thus the voting example is only a puzzle if try to understand it using a dubious theory of human behavior.

Miles



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