Posted by Ilya Somin: Power to the Experts! - A Solution to the Problem of Political Ignorance? http://volokh.com/archives/archive_2007_05_27-2007_06_02.shtml#1180426706
As I noted in my last post, some advocates of libertarian paternalism try to get around the problem of political ignorance by suggesting that their policies be implemented by government-appointed experts rather than by elected officials. This is not a new argument. Totalitarians from [1]Plato to [2]Lenin have argued that the ignorance of the masses can be offset by concentrating power in the hands of an expert elite. So too have some moderate liberal scholars such as [3]Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer and even libertarian Bryan Caplan. Breyer, the libertarian paternalists, and Caplan would never think of taking the argument as far as Plato or Lenin. But the core logic is similar: the experts know better than the average person - and therefore they should make the decisions. For advocates of limited government, the rule of experts is like the vampire that refuses to die no matter how often we drive a stake through its heart. Nevertheless, I'm going to put on my [4]vampire slayer hat, and take a wee little stab at it. As a solution to the problem of political ignorance, the rule of experts has major shortcomings relative to letting individuals make their own decisions with the help of markets and civil society. First, it is essential to recognize that individual consumers don't have to rely on government for expertise. They can hire their own experts in the market or rely on more knowledgeable friends and acquiantances. When I get seriously ill, I go to a doctor. When I decide how to invest my money, I rely on the advice of friends who work in venture capital and investment banking. The real question is not whether we are going to rely on experts to help us make decision, but who gets to choose the experts and whether or not the experts will have veto power over the final decision on what to do. I. Who Gets to Choose the Experts? If instead of each individual choosing his or her own experts, there is a single set of specialists chosen in democratic elections, then the quality of the decision is likely to be impaired by political ignorance - the very problem that the rule of experts is supposed to stave off. Voters' choice of experts is just as likely to be compromised by [5]rational ignorance and rational irrationality as any other electoral decision. By contrast, market participants generally have much stronger incentives to pick experts wisely. References 1. http://classics.mit.edu/Plato/gorgias.html 2. http://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1901/witbd/index.htm 3. http://volokh.com/posts/1179450214.shtml 4. http://volokh.com/archives/archive_2007_02_04-2007_02_10.shtml#1171067057 5. http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=916963 _______________________________________________ Volokh mailing list [email protected] http://lists.powerblogs.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/volokh
