Public Choice Theory

Public choice theory uses the principles of economics to analyze the workings of government, particularly Western representative democracy. It finds that most voters are largely ignorant about the positions of the people for whom they vote and that the incentives for good management in the public interest are weak.^[1]

Because of its skepticism about the supposedly benign nature of government, public choice is sometimes viewed as a conservative or libertarian branch of economics, as opposed to more "liberal" (that is, interventionist) wings such as Keynesian economics. This is partly correct. The emergence of public choice economics reflects dissatisfaction with the implicit assumption, held by Keynesians, among others, that government effectively corrects market failures.^[1]

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