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Bryan Caplan Quotes

In daily life, reality gives us material incentives to restrain our irrationality. But what incentive do we have to think rationally about politics?

In daily life, reality gives us material incentives to restrain our irrationality. But what incentive do we have to think rationally about politics?

Bryan Caplan
Reality, Thinking, Giving
Bryan Caplan (2008). “The Myth of the Rational Voter: Why Democracies Choose Bad Policies (New Edition)”, p.206, Princeton University Press

There are two sources of error: Either you lack sufficient data, or you fail to take advantage of the data that you have.

Bryan Caplan
Errors, Data, Two

The best social insurance is to make more progress, not to make more work

Bryan Caplan
Progress, Social

Worldviews are more a mental security blanket than a serious effort to understand the world

Bryan Caplan
Effort, World, Serious
Bryan Caplan (2011). “The Myth of the Rational Voter: Why Democracies Choose Bad Policies”, p.116, Princeton University Press

Sociotropic voters with biased economic beliefs are more likely to produce severe political failures than are selfish voters with rational expectations.

Bryan Caplan
Selfish, Expectations, Political

There is a small minority of well-educated people with relatively sensible views on economics, and an extremely tiny minority of economists with highly sensible views. Then there's everybody else. ... To win, a politician needs to please the median voter. It makes little difference if a few thousand economists think you a fool.

Bryan Caplan
Winning, Thinking, Views

In a modern democracy, not only can a libertarian be elitist; a libertarian has to be elitist. To be a libertarian in a modern democracy is to say that nearly 300 million Americans are wrong, and a handful of nay-sayers are right.

Bryan Caplan
Democracy, Libertarian, Modern
"The Mirage of Libertarian Populism". econlog.econlib.org. November 12, 2006.

If you can't feel secure - and teach your children to feel secure - about 1-in-610,000 nightmare scenarios - the problem isn't the world. It's you.

Bryan Caplan
Children, World, Nightmare
"The 'Zero-Probability Fallacy' Fallacy". econlog.econlib.org. January 27, 2010.

The use of force is easy to rationalize in terms of basic economics. 'We should make them PAY for what they've done!' It's just the law of demand: raise the price of crossing us, and fewer people will cross us. Make the price another Hiroshima, and perhaps the quantity demanded will fall to zero.

Bryan Caplan
Zero, Fall, Law

Let us designate anarchism1 anarchism as you define it. Let us desiginate anarchism2 anarchism as I and the American Heritage College Dictionary define it.

Bryan Caplan
College, Heritage, Anarchy

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