There is an audio discussion, originally on BBC Radio 4 about a new book which deals with the perceived problem of ignorance of economics among voters, and whether this matters. There is a link at the end.
It is not really about methods of voting. One of the speakers advocates the taking of economic decisions out of the realm of politics, rather as is typically done with central banks. ------------------------------------------------ Here is the blurb from the webpage In 1957 Anthony Downs wrote An Economic Theory of Democracy in which he tried to imagine an electoral world in which everyone behaved rationally. He concluded that from a strictly rational point of view there is no point in voting and that there is no point in expanding time and effort learning about politics, that in effect it was rational to be ignorant. In his new book The Myth of the Rational Voter: Why Democracies Choose Bad Policies, Professor Brian Caplan develops the idea that voters are worse than ignorant, they are in fact irrational and vote accordingly. On the day before local and regional elections, Laurie Taylor is joined by Professor Bryan Caplan, and Paul Whiteley, Professor of Government at the University if Essex and Co-Director of the British Election Study to discuss whether electorates in democracies are ignorant and irrational, and if so whether it matters. ----------------------------------------------- There is a link to the audio file at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/factual/thinkingallowed/thinkingallowed_20070502.shtml You can listen with RealPlayer or Windows Media Player (streamed only, you cannot by default download the file). Only the first 15 minutes or so are relevant. -- Stephen ____________________________________________________________________________________ ¡Descubre una nueva forma de obtener respuestas a tus preguntas! Entra en Yahoo! Respuestas. http://es.answers.yahoo.com/info/welcome ---- election-methods mailing list - see http://electorama.com/em for list info