Bryan Caplan on why H.L. Mencken was right
22 Aug 2015 Leave a comment
in constitutional political economy, economics of information, Public Choice Tags: Bryan Caplan, H.L Mencken, rational ignorance, rational irrationality, voter demographics
@guardianeco slimes New Zealand’s record on #climatechange @NZGreens @GreenpeaceNZ
22 Aug 2015 Leave a comment
in economics of information, energy economics, environmental economics, global warming, politics - Australia, politics - New Zealand, Public Choice Tags: Australia, climate alarmism, global warming, Left-wing hypocrisy, The Guardian
https://twitter.com/guardianeco/status/634681114527797248
Excellent wrap up of carbon pricing globally, found here: worldbank.org/en/news/featur… #renewables http://t.co/Hocf9Z5cEC—
Danny Rose (@_DannyRose) August 19, 2015
Carbon pricing expanded in the last 21 months. New report shows where & how:
wrld.bg/R0EuZ http://t.co/VB69szI1je—
World Bank (@WorldBank) August 19, 2015
A carbon price gives investors a clearer view of the future risks of high-carbon assets: wrld.bg/R0GLE http://t.co/GuNnzlMMlZ—
World Bank (@WorldBank) August 21, 2015
@nzlabour @NZGreens There just isn’t no missing million out there hanging out for that hard-left clarion call @rsalmond
22 Aug 2015 1 Comment
in applied price theory, constitutional political economy, economics of information, politics - New Zealand, Public Choice Tags: British Labour Party, British politics, economics of advertising, Eric Crampton, expressive voting, false consciousness, Leftover Left, median voter theorem, New Zealand Greens, New Zealand Labour Party, rational ignorance, rational rationality
Rob Salmond has written a great blog this week on the ideological spectrum of New Zealand voters based on the New Zealand Election Study.
In the course of his blog he drove a tremendously big stake through the heart of the old left fantasy that if Labour or Greens goes left, a large block of voters not voting for them now or not voting at all (the missing million voters) will shake lose its false consciousness and follow you:
But “pulling the centre back towards the left” is massively, massively hard.
You win those people over by being relevant to them as they are, not by telling them they’re worldview needs a rethink. It is just basic psychology. Tell people they were right all along; they like you. Tell people they were wrong all along; they don’t.
And if you win a majority of centrists, you win. The New Zealand Election Study series records six MMP elections in New Zealand – the three where Labour did best among centrists were the three Labour won.
That’s another message from the academic study I quoted above – in Germany, Sweden, and the UK, the elections where the left did best among centrists were the elections where they took power. As their popularity among centrists declined, so did their seat share.
What is more disturbing for the old left fantasy of the missing million is voting for the Labour Party or Greens is correlated with ignorance rather than knowledge.
Furthermore, the more people know about economics, the less likely they are to vote for the left as Eric Crampton explains:
When they get to the polls, the ignorant are significantly more likely to support the Labour Party (4% increase in predicted probability for a standard deviation increase in ignorance) and significantly less likely to support the Green party (1% decrease in predicted probability) and United Future (0.5% decrease in predicted probability).
Understanding economics strongly predicted supporting National in 2005, which comes as little surprise: the National Party leader was former Governor of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand. A standard deviation increase in our “economic thinking” index correlates with a 5.7% increased probability of voting National, a 1.5% decreased probability of voting NZ First, and a slight decrease in the probability of voting United Future and Maori.
To make matters worse, Crampton found that joining political organisations does little to cure ignorance of politics or otherwise lead to a political awakening. Sometimes active political affiliation reduces ignorance, other times such organisational membership intensifies ignorance.
via Salmond on the centre | Kiwiblog and StephenFranks.co.nz » Blog Archive » Why the left wants everyone to vote.
Make Progress, Not Work! Bryan Caplan’s best single video
21 Aug 2015 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, applied welfare economics, development economics, economic history, economics of information, economics of media and culture, growth miracles, liberalism, Public Choice Tags: Bryan Caplan, capitalism and freedom, makework bias, The Great Enrichment, The Great Escape, The Great Fact
@NZGreens @GreenpeaceNZ Senator Leyonhjelm on the blood on the hands of the modern Luddites
19 Aug 2015 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, development economics, economic history, economics of information, economics of media and culture, economics of regulation, environmental economics, environmentalism, growth disasters, growth miracles, health economics, liberalism Tags: Anti-Science left, expressive voting, GMOs, golden rice, Greenpeace, Luddites, New Zealand Greens, precautionary principle, rational ignorance, rational irrationality, The Great Escape
Good as Gold: Can Golden Rice and Other Biofortified Crops Prevent Malnutrition? ow.ly/QQ1VT #Harvard http://t.co/O3SwpGhsXD—
Golden Rice (@Golden_Rice) August 13, 2015
INFOGRAPHICS: The Impacts of #Biotechnology: A Close Look at the Latest Study ow.ly/GUi4U @FoodInsight http://t.co/JQsmrm2Lv1—
Golden Rice (@Golden_Rice) January 07, 2015
Anti-Golden Rice keyboard
Used by opponent to debate against supporters of #goldenrice
@EcoSenseNow @Golden_Rice http://t.co/q6xt5j7hb1—
Golden Rice Now (@paulevans18) August 21, 2015
.@gpph If this girl could have eaten #goldenrice for lunch, she would not be blind today. ALLOW GOLDEN RICE NOW http://t.co/3UlwHAdWdZ—
Golden Rice Now (@paulevans18) July 29, 2015
Everything’s Amazing and Nobody’s Happy
18 Aug 2015 Leave a comment
in applied welfare economics, development economics, economic history, economics of information, economics of media and culture, growth disasters, growth miracles, liberalism Tags: antimarket bias, Bryan Caplan, capitalism and freedom, life expectancies, living standards, pessimism bias, The Great Enrichment, The Great Escape, The Great Fact
The Battle Over Global Warming Is All in Your Head
16 Aug 2015 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, applied welfare economics, economics of information, economics of media and culture, energy economics, environmental economics, global warming Tags: climate alarmism, doomsday prophecies, global warming, political psychology
‘Climate culture’ versus ‘knowing disbelief’
15 Aug 2015 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economics of information, economics of media and culture, environmental economics, global warming Tags: climate change, conjecture and refutation, global warming, philosophy of science, political psychology
by Andy West
Climate culture versus knowing disbelief.
View original post 2,438 more words
@ReserveBankofNZ will never be any good at forecasting
30 Jul 2015 Leave a comment
in economics of information, entrepreneurship, financial economics, macroeconomics, monetary economics, politics - New Zealand Tags: entrepreneurial alertness, forecasting errors, The pretence to knowledge
.@ReserveBankofNZ MPS inflation forecasts vs. actual. Via @jamespeshaw: http://t.co/TjPvcoVsbI—
Jayne Ihaka (@Jayniehaka) July 29, 2015
The demand and supply for vaccinations
24 Jul 2015 Leave a comment
in economic history, economics of information, economics of media and culture, health economics Tags: anti-vaccination movement, expressive voting, rational ignorance, rational irrationality, vaccinations, vaccines
More vital information on the dangers of DHMO
17 Jul 2015 Leave a comment
in applied welfare economics, economics of information, economics of media and culture, economics of regulation, environmental economics, environmentalism, health economics Tags: antiscience left, DHMO, expressive voting, green scare tactics, precautionary principle, rational ignorance, rational irrationality
Entrepreneurial alertness in green, clean technologies
17 Jul 2015 Leave a comment
in economics of information, economics of media and culture, environmental economics, global warming, Public Choice Tags: climate alarmism, creative destruction, entrepreneurial alertness, global warming, green technologies, innovation
Creative destruction in London newspapers
12 Jul 2015 Leave a comment
in economic history, economics of information, economics of media and culture, entrepreneurship, industrial organisation, Public Choice Tags: British economy, British politics, creative destruction, London, media bias
Truth is that editorialising has v little influence – less now than ever. Here's why: specc.ie/1c58mAr http://t.co/m8UM22W0zj—
Fraser Nelson (@FraserNelson) May 07, 2015
Weight control ads in days gone by
04 Jul 2015 Leave a comment
Men wouldn't look at me when I was skinny. Surprising #vintage ad – things change. http://t.co/wbZOML4XX4—
This is stunning! (@thisisstunning) May 12, 2015
The rise and fall of cosmetic surgery
03 Jul 2015 Leave a comment
in economics of information, economics of media and culture, gender Tags: cosmetic surgery, creative destruction, entrepreneurial alertness
The rise and fall of cosmetic surgeries in the US: samuelwbennett.com/health/the-ris… #dataviz http://t.co/X4IaBgiFtT—
Randy Olson (@randal_olson) March 01, 2015
Recent Comments