Friday, February 11, 2011

Behavioral Public Choice

Robin Hanson writes:
When folks expect to be able to evade a norm, they don’t mind making that norm stronger. This lets them sound more pro-social, while actually giving themselves an advantage over folks who can’t evade as easily.
I think this is a very attractive argument for those interested in behavioral public choice. Anecdotal evidence abounds. And it provides a mechanism for the Baptists and Bootleggers claim (i.e., asymmetric evasion costs). What do you think?

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