Listening to the Journal podcast on Spotify, I was reminded of our discussion of (un)informed voters last week. The commentators were discussing the difference in support for economic policy initiatives between American voters and economists.
Economists are surely more educated on the effects of economic policy than the average voter. If we assume the political makeup of economists does not differ from that of the general public, we could use the discrepancy between their support as a proxy for voters’ level of awareness. The difference in support of some policies was striking; whereas 100% of economists opposed putting a 20% tariff on all imported goods, nearly half (47%) of voters supported the tariff. The podcast highlighted how voters can oversimplify their decision calculus, liking the idea of supporting American jobs and “making another country pay”. In reality, companies, rather than whole countries, are the ones that face import tariffs, and they then pass these additional input costs onto consumers, raising prices.
If everyone participates in a democratic system, it helps ensure that the candidate that best represents group interests is elected. To best contribute to this public good, however, voters can make sure their decisions are informed, either by educating themselves on the issue at hand, or, if their opportunity cost is too high, remaining ignorant and relying on expert’s guidance.
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