Prof.
Bryan Caplan
bcaplan@gmu.edu
http://www.bcaplan.com
Econ
812
HW
#10 (will NOT be graded)
1. (1 page, double-spaced) Why was there platform divergence in
the last
2. (1 page, double-spaced) How would restricting the franchise to
college graduates affect
3. (half page,
double-spaced) Name one political issue
where you think random errors largely "cancel each other out." If a referendum were held on this issue, how
would the vote shares and outcome differ from a world with perfect information?
4. (half page, double-spaced) It frequently happens that two senators who
represent the same state disagree. Is there any way for the Median Voter Theorem
to explain this?
5. (half page,
double-spaced) Name one policy of the
federal government that you believe a majority of Americans oppose. How does this policy survive?
6. (2 pages, double-spaced) Select a theoretical paper on some
sort of "political failure."
Pretending you are Donald Wittman, critique the paper's thesis. What are the objectionable assumptions that drive
the results?
7.
(1 page, double-spaced)
What standard stories of political failure are hardest for
Caplan's rational irrationality model to explain?