Fred Foldvary wrote:
>
> --- Bryan Caplan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
> > I'm highly dissatisfied with interest group explanations. Simple
> > reason: Most of the policies traditionally blamed on interest groups are
> > in fact *popular*. Adoption laws seem like a case where existing
> > policies are not popular, though perhaps I'm wrong on that count.
>
> Cato's "Policy Analysis" 420 (Dec 12, 2001) studied voter initiatives and
> found that tax-and-expediture limitations passed by voters are more
> restrictive than such legislation by representatives, and they cause
> per-capita state spending to decrease. At least in this respect, the
> interests of the voters do not seem to coincide with the legislation by the
> reps.
There is a huge and probably higher quality academic literature on this
point. John Matsusaka for example finds that the effect of initiatives
is pro-government before 1950 and anti-government after, or something to
that effect.
> Also, it does not seem to me that if they knew about it, most voters would
> approve of agriculture subsidies and price supports. Why would the median
> voter want a higher price for sugar and subsidies for the owners of sugar
> beet farms?
When I was a kid I remember my mom explaining why farm programs were a
good idea while she was buying produce. I haven't seen polls on this
exact point, but I strongly suspect a majority wants what we have.
Why? They're interventionists across the board, why would they be any
different here?
--
Prof. Bryan Caplan
Department of Economics George Mason University
http://www.bcaplan.com [EMAIL PROTECTED]
"He was thinking that Prince Andrei was in error and did not see the
true light, and that he, Pierre, ought to come to his aid, to
enlighten and uplift him. But no sooner had he thought out what he
should say and how to say it than he foresaw that Prince Andrei,
with one word, a single argument, would discredit all his teachings,
and he was afraid to begin, afraid to expose to possible ridicule
what he cherished and held sacred."
Leo Tolstoy, *War and Peace*
