选民非理性与不良政策——评布赖恩·卡普兰《理性选民的神话》Rational Irrationality and Bad Policies:A Review of Bryan Caplan's The Myth of the Rational Voter
田嘉
摘要(Abstract)：
为什么民主会失灵(至少经济政策上)?因为民意带有系统性偏见,而选民知道自己的选票影响甚微,所以通常非理性地依照偏见做出错误的选择,最终导致不良政策。卡普兰修正了古典公共选择理论中的"理性选民"概念,批判了完全理性的假设,为理性设定了边界。他认为,一个人更可能是经济行为的"理性消费者"和政治行为的"非理性选民",即"理性的非理性"。卡普兰认为,既然民主制度会选择不良政策,那就不如让市场来决策。本文对以上理论述评,提出其中的"反市场偏见"、数据分析方法等或值得商榷。
关键词(KeyWords)： 理性的非理性;民主失灵;公共选择
基金项目(Foundation):
作者(Author): 田嘉
参考文献(References)：
- (1)该书原名为The Myth of the Rational Voter:Why Democracies Choose Bad Policies,由普林斯顿大学出版社出版,后由中国社会科学院的刘艳红博士译为中文,于2016年10月出版了《理性选民的神话:为何民主制度选择不良政策》(第2版)。
- (2)原文为rational irrationality,直译为理性的非理性,即选民非理性,刘艳红博士的中文译本中将其译为“理性的胡闹”,但本文仍采用“理性的非理性”。
- (1)原文为Democracy is the worst form of government except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time,亦可将其意译为“民主形式是现有的最好的治理形式”。
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