Economist Tyler Cowen argues that people too readily dismiss others’ arguments: One of the most common fallacies in the economics blogosphere — and elsewhere — is what I call “devalue and dismiss.” That is, a writer will come up with some critique of another argument, let us call that argument X, and then dismiss that […]
Archive | Political Ignorance
Gun Control, Mass Shootings, and Political Ignorance
By Ilya Somin on January 13, 2014 5:54 pm in Criminal Law, Democracy and Political Ignorance, Guns, Political Ignorance, Public Opinion
Law professor Josh Blackman and Yale student Shelby Baird have posted an interesting paper entitled “The Shooting Cycle,” on the reaction of public opinion to mass shooting incidents, like the tragic events in Newtown and the Washington Navy Yard in 2012 and 2013. Political ignorance plays an important role in their explanation for why such […]
Upcoming Talks in Boston on Democracy and Political Ignorance
By Ilya Somin on January 13, 2014 11:10 am in Democracy and Political Ignorance, Political Ignorance
This week on Thursday and Friday, I will be giving three talks in Boston on my book Democracy and Political Ignorance: Why Smaller Government is Smarter, sponsored by student Federalist Society chapters at their respective law schools: Thursday, Jan. 16 12:15: Boston College Law School, East Wing 115A 3:30 PM: New England School of Law, […]
Why Write a Book About a Seemingly Intractable Problem like Political Ignorance?
By Ilya Somin on January 3, 2014 10:45 am in Democracy, Democracy and Political Ignorance, Political Ignorance
Some VC commenters and readers of my recent book and other work on political ignorance, wonder whether there is any point to writing about this subject if my argument is correct. If most voters are ignorant about politics because such ignorance is rational, and that problem is unlikely to be overcome by information shortcuts, education, […]
Exposing the Nefarious Plot to Make Me a Federal Judge
Perhaps the strangest reaction to George Will’s Washington Post op ed about my book Democracy and Political Ignorance is this post at the Democratic Daily blog, which claims it is all part of an effort to “groom” me to become a GOP-appointed federal judge: OK: Smart. Then “guided.” (GOPs recruit out of Yale and Harvard […]
Rational Behavior is Not the Same Thing as Morally Praiseworthy Behavior
In this recent post commenting on George Will’s column about my book Democracy and Political Ignorance, Bill Quick of the Daily Pundit blog commits the understandable and common mistake of conflating rational behavior with good behavior. He claims that my argument that voter ignorance is rational must be wrong, because voter ignorance has harmful consequences: […]
Upcoming Talk on Democracy and Political Ignorance at McGill University
By Ilya Somin on January 2, 2014 11:25 am in Democracy and Political Ignorance, Political Ignorance, Uncategorized
On Thursday, January 9, I will be doing a talk about my book Democracy and Political Ignorance: Why Smaller Government is Smarter at McGill University in Montreal. Th lecture is sponsored by McGill’s Research Group on Constitutional Studies, will run from about 4:30 to 6 PM (including time for questions), and will be held in […]
The Benefits of State Polarization
By Ilya Somin on December 30, 2013 1:50 pm in Democracy and Political Ignorance, Federalism, Political Ignorance
Many commentators decry the increasing polarization between “red states” and “blue states.” This recent Washington Post article summarizes some of the standard criticisms. But as my George Mason colleague Michael Greve explains, state polarization also has some valuable benefits: Polarization (whether measured by single-party control over states, policy outcomes, or whatever) has its downsides. Single-part […]
Upcoming Talk on Democracy and Political Ignorance at the University of Dayton
This Thursday, I will be giving a talk on my book Democracy and Political Ignorance: Why Smaller Government is Smarter at the University of Dayton. The event is sponsored by the Dayton Econonomics Department, and will run from 1:30 until about 2:45, and will be held in Miriam 121.
Upcoming Talks in Britain on Democracy and Political Ignorance
By Ilya Somin on November 18, 2013 10:04 am in Democracy and Political Ignorance, Political Ignorance
Next week, I will be giving four talks about my book Democracy and Political Ignorance: Why Smaller Government is Smarter in the United Kingdom. Here is the list: November 25, 7-8:30 PM: Oxford Hayek Society, Oxford University, Christ Church College, Lecture Room TBC, Oxford (more details and RSVP link here). November 26, 6:30 PM-8 PM: […]
Video of my Cato Institute Book Forum on Democracy and Political Ignorance
By Ilya Somin on November 8, 2013 11:02 am in Democracy and Political Ignorance, Political Ignorance
For readers who may be interested, the video of my recent Cato Institute Book Forum on my recently published Democracy and Political Ignorance: Why Smaller Government is Smarter. is linked below. The event includes commentary by George Washington University political scientist John Sides (coauthor of an important new book on the 2012 presidential election), and […]
The Rationality of Political Ignorance Revisited
By Ilya Somin on November 5, 2013 11:10 am in Democracy and Political Ignorance, Political Ignorance
Bruce Ramsey of the Liberty website isn’t happy with either participant in my recent debate with Jeffrey Friedman over the the rationality of political ignorance at Cato Unbound. He claims that we misrepresent each other’s positions, and that in any case the question we are debating doesn’t matter much. Here is his critique of my […]
Concluding Thoughts on the Cato Unbound Symposium on Democracy and Political Ignorance
By Ilya Somin on October 31, 2013 2:10 pm in Democracy and Political Ignorance, Political Ignorance, Public Choice, Public Opinion
The Cato Unbound symposium on my book Democracy and Political Ignorance: Why Smaller Government is Smarter is wrapping up up today. I am grateful to political theorist Jeffrey Friedman, Yale Law School Professor Heather Gerken, and Sean Trende of RealClearPolitics for their thoughtful critiques of the book, and to Jason Kuznicki of Cato Unbound for […]
Two Upcoming Talks about Democracy and Political Ignorance
By Ilya Somin on October 31, 2013 11:05 am in Democracy and Political Ignorance, Political Ignorance
Next week, I will be giving two talks on my book Democracy and Political Ignorance: Why Smaller Government is Smarter. The first will be at Duke Law School, Rm. 3037, on Tuesday, Nov. 5, 12:15-1:30 (with commentary by Duke Professor Jonathan Anomaly). The second is a book forum at the Cato Institute, on Wednesday, Nov. […]
“Democracy” and “Republic” Are Not Mutually Exclusive Terms
By Ilya Somin on October 28, 2013 5:56 pm in Democracy, Democracy and Political Ignorance, Political Ignorance
If you write about democratic theory, as I do, you will periodically get complaints that it is inaccurate to refer to the United States as a “democracy” because it is actually a “republic.” For example, several Facebook commenters and others have suggested that I should have titled my book Democracy and Political Ignorance (which focuses […]