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Two Approaches to a Book Review re The Myth of the Rational Voter by Bryan Caplan


Bryan Caplan's book The Myth of the Rational Voter is regarded as one of the best original economics books of this Century so far. I have read two pieces that act as reviews of the book, one by the Italian economist Francesco Caselli, and one by Prospect columnist Steven White. [1][2]

Now we all know the former will be vastly more useful than the latter, because the former is by a fellow economist who wishes to understand Caplan's position, even if he ends up disagreeing with many elements of it by the end of his piece. The latter work is basically froth, offering not even an attempt to get at why Caplan is advancing the idea that voters, when they vote, prioritise their instrumental rationality over epistemic rationality.

Oh well, never mind. At least I can laugh at White's piece, right?

~~~

[1] Review... by Francesco Caselli for the London School of Economics
http://personal.lse.ac.uk/casellif/papers/caplan.pdf

[2] The Myth of Bryan Caplan's Seriousness by Steven White for Prospect
http://prospect.org/article/myth-bryan-caplans-seriousness

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