POLSCI 331 Lecture Notes - Lecture 18: Public Choice, Distributive Justice, Methodological Individualism
4 May 2018
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11.05 PHIL Lecture Notes
Public Choice Theory (Intro/Overall)
How actual democracy works? And how does this reality constrain or alter our theories of
distributive justice?
Extent to which political competition benefits voters
o Freedom of entry/exit in the political market?
If it does benefit voters, under what circumstances?
Application of economic techniques to political processes
o 1) Methodological individualism
▪ Reject idea of society as an organic whole – there is no we or will of the people
▪ Just a bunch of different individuals with different concerns and preferences
▪ When someone wins the election, the people have spoken is not the correct
interpretation of the victory
▪ Mandate view – nonexistent
▪ Most people don’t view, among the people who voted, many disagree
▪ We did not bring about policy, not everyone agrees on the policy
▪ We is dangerous – allows blame to be placed on groups of people when there is no
collective view
• Not a collective WILL, but a collective outcome
• Attributed a mind (that is nonexistent) to a group of people
• No meta entity
• Allows certain groups to persecute other groups ex: the Jews
▪ Contrary to what Rousseau believes
o 2) People are rational
▪ Does not mean: everyone is unbiased and fully informed
▪ Instrumental sense – rationality is an instrument – aimed at utility
▪ Doing what is in your interest, broadly speaking
• We take the most effective means to the ends that we desire
• Those ends are be anything
• Set of means to take
• Costs associated (opportunity costs – we are finite creatures, etc.)
▪ Implication of this view of rationality – positively irrational to be fully informed
▪ Not worth overcoming false beliefs or biases costly to vacuum the carpet of your
mind
▪ How to achieve our goals efficiently with the constraints around us?
▪ Sometimes, we gain utility from acting on our biases
• Wishful thinking sometimes works as a placebo
• Always having true, justified beliefs may not be great (may not be
EFFICIENT)
• Economically rational to be epistemically irrational – placebo effect of false
beliefs that give you utility
▪ Economic rationality v. epistemic rationality (true, justified beliefs)
o 3) Motivational symmetry in politics
▪ Public choice theory arose as a response to unjustified idealism in political science
▪ Externalities from market failures c’mon government, let’s solve them
• Assumes government is run by altruistic, perfectly informed, well-
intentioned politicians
▪ Public choice – politicians are no different from everyone else in motivational
profile
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