The Myth of the Rational Voter by Bryan Caplan
Buy now: Amazon
This book does a wonderful job of poking holes in democracy’s thin fabric.
Here is a Cato Unbound discussion where the author describes the book’s major themes and responds to many counterpoints.
There is a Wikipedia page on the major themes of the book.
Popular reviews: Louis Menand in the New Yorker, Nicholas Kristof in the New York Times.
Scholarly reviews: Loren Lomasky (gated, SpringerLink), David Schleicher.
More of the author’s research, pertinent to the themes of the book: here
Caplan discusses his inclusion of one of the book’s most controversial passages in this blog post.
Here is a long podcast by the author for the FEE revisiting, in 2010, the main themes of the book.
The book made it to a list of top ten pro-liberty books of the 2000s.
[...] low. This demand for irrationality shows up in political beliefs, as Caplan documents in his book The Myth of the Rational Voter. It also shows up in religious beliefs, as Caplan argues in this opening statement in a debate with [...]
Pingback by Rationality, irrationality, and religion « Thinking Beyond Competition — August 17, 2010 @ 3:07 pm