An Economic Theory of DemocracyThis book seeks to elucidate its subject-the governing of democratic state-by making intelligible the party politics of democracies. Downs treats this differently than do other students of politics. His explanations are systematically related to, and deducible from, precisely stated assumptions about the motivations that attend the decisions of voters and parties and the environment in which they act. He is consciously concerned with the economy in explanation, that is, with attempting to account for phenomena in terms of a very limited number of facts and postulates. He is concerned also with the central features of party politics in any democratic state, not with that in the United States or any other single country. |
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Page 8
... irrational ones ? If rationality really means efficiency , are inefficient men always irrational , or can rational men also act inefficiently ? C. IRRATIONALITY AND THE BASIC FUNCTION OF POLITICAL RATIONALITY To distinguish clearly ...
... irrational ones ? If rationality really means efficiency , are inefficient men always irrational , or can rational men also act inefficiently ? C. IRRATIONALITY AND THE BASIC FUNCTION OF POLITICAL RATIONALITY To distinguish clearly ...
Page 9
... irrational behavior . A rational man who is systematically making some mistake will cease to do so if ( ) he discovers what the mistake is and ( 2 ) the cost of eliminating it is smaller than the benefits therefrom . Under the same ...
... irrational behavior . A rational man who is systematically making some mistake will cease to do so if ( ) he discovers what the mistake is and ( 2 ) the cost of eliminating it is smaller than the benefits therefrom . Under the same ...
Page 10
... irrational in its behavior , a difficult problem is posed for the man who does not . How should he act ? What is the best course for a rational man in an irrational world ? The answer depends upon whether the irrationality he faces in ...
... irrational in its behavior , a difficult problem is posed for the man who does not . How should he act ? What is the best course for a rational man in an irrational world ? The answer depends upon whether the irrationality he faces in ...
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abstain alternatives analysis assume assumption axiom basic benefits cause ceteris paribus citizen X coalition competition conclusion cost of voting decision-making democracy Derived from Chapter discount distribution of voters division of labor economic theory economists effect election period electorate equal ernment exist extremist fact favor free information free market gain goals government action government policy government's groups hence ideologies incumbents indifferent individual influence irrational issue Kenneth Arrow marginal cost marginal equilibrium maximize means ment motives multiparty system oligopoly opposition parties outcome Paretian optimum party differential party's pay-off political information political parties position possible preferences problem Proposition rational citizen rational voter real world reason reëlected return from voting scale selection principles social society strategy tion two-party system uncertainty utility functions utility income V. O. Key views vote-selling voting decision welfare Welfare Economics well-informed zero