I would have expected maybe a 10% or 15% difference, but the really large discrepancies were startling. Huge weakness for conservatives to exploit if they see the opening. What this does is to discredit the economic positions of the Left. At least at the popular level. There also is a paradox. And I think it is because of assumptions made in the survey / test. The fixation of the Right with free trade is utterly dysfunctional. Yet the kind of economic illiteracy which would reveal that weakness isn't caught by the questions asked. Somewhere along the way there also is a paradox, why some Leftist economists are World Class by anyone's reckoning. Kuttner, Krugman, Thurow, etc, not to mention Keynes. How does the Left, despite the economic illiteracy of Left majorities , also inspire superlative economic thought ? Billy =========================================== In a message dated 6/8/2010 10:38:12 A.M. Pacific Daylight Time, [email protected] writes:
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/
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