Politicians annoy me, especially when one shows up at my favorite Raleigh bar and orders bad beer. I admit Obama does a fantastic job of appealing to the young adults. I witnessed this first hand after a discussion with my politically apathetic friend who voted in the NC primaries. Sadly, she could tell me little about the candidates she chose. I have to wonder how many voters truly understand the issues and how many false assumptions they have.
Many of my peers (most ages 22-28) have several misconceptions about economics that guide their political decisions. Bryan Caplan writes an excellent piece about “The 4 Boneheaded Biases of Stupid Voters” in Reason Magazine here.
You can hardly teach economics without bumping into these biases. Students of economics are not blank slates for their teachers to write on. They arrive with strong prejudices. They underestimate the benefits of markets. They underestimate the benefits of dealing with foreigners. They underestimate the benefits of conserving labor. They underestimate the performance of the economy. And in doing all that underestimating, they overestimate both the need for the government to solve these purported problems and the likely efficacy of its solutions.
