Transcript
  • 00:08    |    
    Initial credits
  • 00:20    |    
    Introduction
  • 00:36    |    
    Defining public choice
  • Markets and politics
  • 02:14    |    
    Entrepreneurship
  • Promoting new ideas through politics
  • 03:58    |    
    Voters and consumers
    • Incentives for consumers
    • Incentives for voters
  • 05:50    |    
    Comparing prices
    • Opportunity costs in private lives
    • Opportunity costs in public lives
    • Consumer incentives
    • Lack of voter incentives
    • The Myth of the Rational Voter, Bryan Caplan
  • 11:16    |    
    Why we vote
  • 13:00    |    
    Comparing private and political entrepreneurs
    • Politicians
    • Prices and votes
    • Costs and benefits
    • Sugar prices in the United States
  • 19:31    |    
    Implications for politicians
    • Emotional appeals
    • Slogans and symbols
    • Emphasis on benefits not costs
  • 21:35    |    
    Other political actors
    • Bureaucrats
    • Interest groups
  • 26:53    |    
    Realistic expectations of government
    • Rationality of terrorism
    • Importance of incentives
    • Form of government and minorities
    • Spending to purchase votes
  • 34:44    |    
    Question and answer period
    • Are the results of a government system based on established constitutional norms?
    • Are there ways to get voters more interested in the issues they vote on?
  • 45:10    |    
    Final words
  • 45:16    |    
    Final credits


What Fields Is Public Choice Theory Being Applied To?

New Media  | 17 de marzo de 2010  | Vistas: 263

In this conference, Randy T. Simmons discusses public choice, defined as the discipline that applies the tools of economics to the study of collective action.  In his dicussion, Simmons focuses on voters and consumers, comparing and contrasting their incentives.  He explains that voters have little or no incentive to cast their votes because they believe individuals have almost no chance of affecting the outcome of an election.  Therefore, voters choose not to be informed because the individual cost to look into specific information surpasses the individual benefit.  Public choice sustains that market prices are valuable sources of useful information, while election results only measure the number of people with a fixed set of preferences without taking into consideration the intensity of those preferences.

Versión en español: ¿Hacia dónde se dirigen los campos de aplicación del análisis de las decisiones públicas?






Conferencista

Political economist and professor

IDEAS DE LA LIBERTAD

Nuestra misión es la enseñanza y difusión de los principios éticos, jurídicos y económicos de una sociedad de personas libres y responsables.

Universidad Francisco Marroquín