Robin Hanson wrote:
> Now maybe you accept this, and think yourself part of, or advisor to, an
> elite empowered to make ordinary people do things that are good for them,
> whether they like it or not.
I think that what Bill might say is that even though people under-invest
in their own education, they are in fact quite willing to vote for
education spending. He might even suggest that qua voters, people
recognize and adjust for their failings as consumers. Akerlof and
Dickens make a similar argument about retirement savings in *An
Economist's Book of Tales*.
> But here's the
> crucial question: how sure are you that you and your fellow advisors, and
> the elites you advise, are substantially less irrational in this process of
> making ordinary people do things that are good for them? Can't elite
> advisors be irrational too?
I think Bill would say that he's pretty sure. He's seen the data,
crunched the numbers, read the literature, etc. If you feel comfortable
failing people on their exams, why shouldn't you feel comfortable giving
them a failing grade on their decision-making outside of the classroom?
But perhaps I'm making Bill sound a little too much like me!
--
Prof. Bryan Caplan
Department of Economics George Mason University
http://www.bcaplan.com [EMAIL PROTECTED]
"He wrote a letter, but did not post it because he felt that no one
would have understood what he wanted to say, and besides it was not
necessary that anyone but himself should understand it."
Leo Tolstoy, *The Cossacks*
