Lowering the Cost of Knowledge

As we’ve discussed extensively in class, it is rational for people to not vote. If they decide to vote, it is rational for people to be ignorant about whom they are voting for. Therefore, people who are rationally ignorant elect U.S. senators.

The reason people are rationally ignorant is because the cost of gaining knowledge of the candidates is greater than the benefit. To help lower the cost of becoming knowledgeable about our senators, there exist groups that monitor legislative action. One example of these groups is Americans for Democratic Action (ADA). In class, we observed their latest publication, which included how each senator voted and a score assigned by the ADA based on their voting record. They provide this information so that a person can determine which legislators to support by comparing the legislator’s voting to the person’s views. By providing this information in a simplified way, the cost of becoming less ignorant is lowered.

Additionally, the ADA works to further the interest of the members. For example, they recently were a part of an effort towards Senators Tom Carper (D-DE) and Chris Coons (D-DE) to, 

[urge] them to support policies that’ll raise taxes on the wealthy and strengthen the middle class as Congress tries to avoid going over ‘the fiscal cliff.’

Side note: I spent some time exploring the website for ADA and discovered a quiz entitled “How Liberal Are You?”. I had no luck discovering “How Conservative Are You” on the American Conservative Union website.