Good! I read this in the paper this morning and I was to busy to go and get the link but I am glad you posted this. Interesting but not surprising.
// Lennart On Tue, Jun 8, 2010 at 12:33 PM, <[email protected]> wrote: > > WSJ / June 8, 2010 > > Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader? > > Self-identified liberals and Democrats do badly on questions of basic > economics. > > By DANIEL B. KLEIN > > Who is better informed about the policy choices facing the country—liberals, > conservatives or libertarians? According to a Zogby International survey > that I write about in the May issue of Econ Journal Watch, the answer is > unequivocal: The left flunks Econ 101. > > Zogby researcher Zeljka Buturovic and I considered the 4,835 respondents' > (all American adults) answers to eight survey questions about basic > economics. We also asked the respondents about their political leanings: > progressive/very liberal; liberal; moderate; conservative; very > conservative; and libertarian. > > Rather than focusing on whether respondents answered a question correctly, > we instead looked at whether they answered incorrectly. A response was > counted as incorrect only if it was flatly unenlightened. > > Consider one of the economic propositions in the December 2008 poll: > "Restrictions on housing development make housing less affordable." People > were asked if they: 1) strongly agree; 2) somewhat agree; 3) somewhat > disagree; 4) strongly disagree; 5) are not sure. > > Basic economics acknowledges that whatever redeeming features a restriction > may have, it increases the cost of production and exchange, making goods and > services less affordable. There may be exceptions to the general case, but > they would be atypical. > > Therefore, we counted as incorrect responses of "somewhat disagree" and > "strongly disagree." This treatment gives leeway for those who think the > question is ambiguous or half right and half wrong. They would likely answer > "not sure," which we do not count as incorrect. > > In this case, percentage of conservatives answering incorrectly was 22.3%, > very conservatives 17.6% and libertarians 15.7%. But the percentage of > progressive/very liberals answering incorrectly was 67.6% and liberals > 60.1%. The pattern was not an anomaly. > > The other questions were: 1) Mandatory licensing of professional services > increases the prices of those services (unenlightened answer: disagree). 2) > Overall, the standard of living is higher today than it was 30 years ago > (unenlightened answer: disagree). 3) Rent control leads to housing shortages > (unenlightened answer: disagree). 4) A company with the largest market share > is a monopoly (unenlightened answer: agree). 5) Third World workers working > for American companies overseas are being exploited (unenlightened answer: > agree). 6) Free trade leads to unemployment (unenlightened answer: agree). > 7) Minimum wage laws raise unemployment (unenlightened answer: disagree). > > More on Politics > > Primaries to Watch From Coast to Coast > Candidates Target Rivals' Wall Street Ties > Map: Congressional Contests > Interactive: Battle for the Senate | House > 2010 Governors Races > > How did the six ideological groups do overall? Here they are, best to worst, > with an average number of incorrect responses from 0 to 8: Very > conservative, 1.30; Libertarian, 1.38; Conservative, 1.67; Moderate, 3.67; > Liberal, 4.69; Progressive/very liberal, 5.26. > > Americans in the first three categories do reasonably well. But the left has > trouble squaring economic thinking with their political psychology, morals > and aesthetics. > > To be sure, none of the eight questions specifically challenge the political > sensibilities of conservatives and libertarians. Still, not all of the eight > questions are tied directly to left-wing concerns about inequality and > redistribution. In particular, the questions about mandatory licensing, the > standard of living, the definition of monopoly, and free trade do not > specifically challenge leftist sensibilities. > > Yet on every question the left did much worse. On the monopoly question, the > portion of progressive/very liberals answering incorrectly (31%) was more > than twice that of conservatives (13%) and more than four times that of > libertarians (7%). On the question about living standards, the portion of > progressive/very liberals answering incorrectly (61%) was more than four > times that of conservatives (13%) and almost three times that of > libertarians (21%). > > The survey also asked about party affiliation. Those responding Democratic > averaged 4.59 incorrect answers. Republicans averaged 1.61 incorrect, and > Libertarians 1.26 incorrect. > > Adam Smith described political economy as "a branch of the science of a > statesman or legislator." Governmental power joined with wrongheadedness is > something terrible, but all too common. Realizing that many of our leaders > and their constituents are economically unenlightened sheds light on the > troubles that surround us. > > Mr. Klein is a professor of economics at George Mason University. This op-ed > is based on an article published in the May 2010 issue of the journal he > edits, Econ Journal Watch, a project sponsored by the American Institute for > Economic Research. The article is at: > http://econjwatch.org/articles/economic-enlightenment-in-relation-to-college-going-ideology-and-other-variables-a-zogby-survey-of-americans _______________________________________________ Centroids mailing list: [email protected] http://radicalcentrism.com/mailman/listinfo/centroids_radicalcentrism.com Archives at http://radicalcentrism.org/pipermail/centroids_radicalcentrism.com/
