At 04:59 PM 4/26/02 -0700, Wei Dai wrote: >On Fri, Apr 26, 2002 at 05:15:33PM -0400, Robin Hanson wrote: > > I apply the same logic to government. If I believe, as I do, that people > > often overestimate the value they get from government, I should fix that if > > I can by persuasion. > >What if you can't fix it by persuasion and everyone becomes worse off >because of your advice? Or what if you do manage to persuade everyone, and >then they blame you for giving them what they thought they wanted?
Ex post, shit happens. :-) >BTW, how do you make interpersonal comparisons of expected (rather than >actual) benefits and costs, when people do not have common priors or the >same capacity for logical reasoning? What if some (crazy) person believes >that having a smaller government is worth a quadrillion dollars? How would >that balance out with the (slightly less crazy) people who believe that a >bigger government is a net benefit? When I'm inferring what it is that people think they want, I don't have to believe everything they say. I can also look at their actions. I can't see how anyone has a quadrillion dollar willingness to pay, as no one can afford to pay that much. Robin Hanson [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://hanson.gmu.edu Asst. Prof. Economics, George Mason University MSN 1D3, Carow Hall, Fairfax VA 22030-4444 703-993-2326 FAX: 703-993-2323
