Top 25 Bryan Caplan Quotes (2024 Update)

Bryan Caplan Quote: “There are two sources of error: Either you lack sufficient data, or you fail to take advantage of the data that you have.”

1. “There are two sources of error: Either you lack sufficient data, or you fail to take advantage of the data that you have.”

— Bryan Caplan

Bryan Caplan Quote: “In a modern democracy, not only can a libertarian be elitist; a libertarian has to be elitist. To be a libertarian in a modern democracy is to say that nearly 300 million Americans are wrong, and a handful of nay-sayers are right.”

2. “In a modern democracy, not only can a libertarian be elitist; a libertarian has to be elitist. To be a libertarian in a modern democracy is to say that nearly 300 million Americans are wrong, and a handful of nay-sayers are right.”

— Bryan Caplan

Bryan Caplan Quote: “The use of force is easy to rationalize in terms of basic economics. ‘We should make them PAY for what they’ve done!’ It’s just the law of demand: raise the price of crossing us, and fewer people will cross us. Make the price another Hiroshima, and perhaps the quantity demanded will fall to zero.”

3. “The use of force is easy to rationalize in terms of basic economics. ‘We should make them PAY for what they’ve done!’ It’s just the law of demand: raise the price of crossing us, and fewer people will cross us. Make the price another Hiroshima, and perhaps the quantity demanded will fall to zero.”

— Bryan Caplan

Bryan Caplan Quote: “Good intentions are ubiquitous in politics; what is scarce is accurate beliefs.”

4. “Good intentions are ubiquitous in politics; what is scarce is accurate beliefs.”

— Bryan Caplan

Bryan Caplan Quote: “In daily life, reality gives us material incentives to restrain our irrationality. But what incentive do we have to think rationally about politics?”

5. “In daily life, reality gives us material incentives to restrain our irrationality. But what incentive do we have to think rationally about politics?”

— Bryan Caplan

Bryan Caplan Quote: “The heralded social dividends of education are largely illusory: rising education’s main fruit is not broad-based prosperity, but credential inflation.”

6. “The heralded social dividends of education are largely illusory: rising education’s main fruit is not broad-based prosperity, but credential inflation.”

— Bryan Caplan

Bryan Caplan Quote: “The best social insurance is to make more progress, not to make more work.”

7. “The best social insurance is to make more progress, not to make more work.”

— Bryan Caplan

Bryan Caplan Quote: “Worldviews are more a mental security blanket than a serious effort to understand the world.”

8. “Worldviews are more a mental security blanket than a serious effort to understand the world.”

— Bryan Caplan

Bryan Caplan Quote: “In a useful conversation... there is a double coincidence of wants. You have to be interested in what I have to say; I have to be interested in what you have to say. This is an important reason why people with conventional interests seem more socially intelligent. Even if they don’t check whether their audience cares, it probably does.”

9. “In a useful conversation... there is a double coincidence of wants. You have to be interested in what I have to say; I have to be interested in what you have to say. This is an important reason why people with conventional interests seem more socially intelligent. Even if they don’t check whether their audience cares, it probably does.”

— Bryan Caplan

Bryan Caplan Quote: “Brennan and Lomasky point to the expressive function of voting. Fans at a football game cheer not to help the home team win, but to express their loyalty. Similarly, citizens might vote not to help policies win, but to express their patriotism, their compassion, or their devotion to the environment. This is not hair-splitting. One implication is that inefficient policies like tariffs or the minimum wage might win because expressing support for them makes people feel good about themselves.”

10. “Brennan and Lomasky point to the expressive function of voting. Fans at a football game cheer not to help the home team win, but to express their loyalty. Similarly, citizens might vote not to help policies win, but to express their patriotism, their compassion, or their devotion to the environment. This is not hair-splitting. One implication is that inefficient policies like tariffs or the minimum wage might win because expressing support for them makes people feel good about themselves.”

— Bryan Caplan

Bryan Caplan Quote: “In the minds of many, one of Winston’s Churchill’s most famous aphorisms cuts the conversation short: “Democracy is the worst form of government, except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.”10 But this saying overlooks the fact that the governments vary in scope as well as form. In democracies the main alternative to majority rule is not dictatorship, but markets.”

11. “In the minds of many, one of Winston’s Churchill’s most famous aphorisms cuts the conversation short: “Democracy is the worst form of government, except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.”10 But this saying overlooks the fact that the governments vary in scope as well as form. In democracies the main alternative to majority rule is not dictatorship, but markets.”

— Bryan Caplan

Bryan Caplan Quote: “Both bad driving and bad voting are dangerous not merely to the individual who practices them, but to innocent bystanders.”

12. “Both bad driving and bad voting are dangerous not merely to the individual who practices them, but to innocent bystanders.”

— Bryan Caplan

Bryan Caplan Quote: “It is precisely because education is so affordable that the labor market expects us to possess so much. Without the subsidies, you would no longer need the education you can no longer afford.”

13. “It is precisely because education is so affordable that the labor market expects us to possess so much. Without the subsidies, you would no longer need the education you can no longer afford.”

— Bryan Caplan

Bryan Caplan Quote: “First, altruism and morality generally are consumption goods like any other, so we should expect people to buy more altruism when the price is low.34 Second, due to the low probability of decisiveness, the price of altruism is drastically cheaper in politics than in markets.35 Voting to raise your taxes by a thousand dollars when your probability of decisiveness is 1 in 100,000 has an expected cost of a penny.”

14. “First, altruism and morality generally are consumption goods like any other, so we should expect people to buy more altruism when the price is low.34 Second, due to the low probability of decisiveness, the price of altruism is drastically cheaper in politics than in markets.35 Voting to raise your taxes by a thousand dollars when your probability of decisiveness is 1 in 100,000 has an expected cost of a penny.”

— Bryan Caplan

Bryan Caplan Quote: “Let us designate anarchism1 anarchism as you define it. Let us desiginate anarchism2 anarchism as I and the American Heritage College Dictionary define it.”

15. “Let us designate anarchism1 anarchism as you define it. Let us desiginate anarchism2 anarchism as I and the American Heritage College Dictionary define it.”

— Bryan Caplan

Bryan Caplan Quote: “Would we still have a “democracy” if you needed to pass a test of economic literacy to vote? If you needed a college degree? Both of these measures raise the economic understanding of the median voter, leading to more sensible policies. Franchise restrictions were historically used for discriminatory ends, but that hardly implies that they should never be used again for any reason. A test of voter competence is no more objectionable than a driving test.”

16. “Would we still have a “democracy” if you needed to pass a test of economic literacy to vote? If you needed a college degree? Both of these measures raise the economic understanding of the median voter, leading to more sensible policies. Franchise restrictions were historically used for discriminatory ends, but that hardly implies that they should never be used again for any reason. A test of voter competence is no more objectionable than a driving test.”

— Bryan Caplan

Bryan Caplan Quote: “The serious fact is that the bulk of the really important things economics has to teach are things that people would see for themselves if they were willing to see. – Frank Knight, “The Role of Principles in Economics and Politics.”

17. “The serious fact is that the bulk of the really important things economics has to teach are things that people would see for themselves if they were willing to see. – Frank Knight, “The Role of Principles in Economics and Politics.”

— Bryan Caplan

Bryan Caplan Quote: “Sociotropic voters with biased economic beliefs are more likely to produce severe political failures than are selfish voters with rational expectations.”

18. “Sociotropic voters with biased economic beliefs are more likely to produce severe political failures than are selfish voters with rational expectations.”

— Bryan Caplan

Bryan Caplan Quote: “Most voters disown selfish motives. They personally back the policies that are best for the country, ethically right, and consistent with social justice. At the same time, they see other voters – not just their opponents, but often their allies too – as deeply selfish. The typical liberal Democrat says he votes his conscience, and.”

19. “Most voters disown selfish motives. They personally back the policies that are best for the country, ethically right, and consistent with social justice. At the same time, they see other voters – not just their opponents, but often their allies too – as deeply selfish. The typical liberal Democrat says he votes his conscience, and.”

— Bryan Caplan

Bryan Caplan Quote: “Remarkably, until the passage of the Representation of the People Act of 1949, Britain retained plural voting for graduates of elite universities and business owners.”

20. “Remarkably, until the passage of the Representation of the People Act of 1949, Britain retained plural voting for graduates of elite universities and business owners.”

— Bryan Caplan

Bryan Caplan Quote: “If voters are systematically mistaken about what policies work, there is a striking implication: They will not be satisfied by the politicians they elect. A politician who ignores the public’s policy preferences looks like a corrupt tool of special interests. A politician who implements the public’s policy preferences looks incompetent because of the bad consequences.”

21. “If voters are systematically mistaken about what policies work, there is a striking implication: They will not be satisfied by the politicians they elect. A politician who ignores the public’s policy preferences looks like a corrupt tool of special interests. A politician who implements the public’s policy preferences looks incompetent because of the bad consequences.”

— Bryan Caplan

Bryan Caplan Quote: “Summing up: Correctly interpreted, the simple economic model specifically predicts that people will be less selfish as voters than as consumers. Indeed, like diners at an all-you-can-eat buffet, we should expect voters to “stuff themselves” with moral rectitude. Once again, analogies between voting and shopping are deeply misleading.”

22. “Summing up: Correctly interpreted, the simple economic model specifically predicts that people will be less selfish as voters than as consumers. Indeed, like diners at an all-you-can-eat buffet, we should expect voters to “stuff themselves” with moral rectitude. Once again, analogies between voting and shopping are deeply misleading.”

— Bryan Caplan

Bryan Caplan Quote: “What happens if fully rational politicians compete for the support of irrational voters – specifically, voters with irrational beliefs about the effects of various policies? It is a recipe for mendacity.”

23. “What happens if fully rational politicians compete for the support of irrational voters – specifically, voters with irrational beliefs about the effects of various policies? It is a recipe for mendacity.”

— Bryan Caplan

Bryan Caplan Quote: “After all their investigations, though, economists typically conclude that the man in the street – and the intellectual without economic training – underestimates how well markets work.12 I maintain that something quite different holds for democracy: it is widely over-rated not only by the public but by most economists too. Thus, while the general public underestimates how well markets work, even economists underestimate markets’ virtues relative to the democratic alternative.”

24. “After all their investigations, though, economists typically conclude that the man in the street – and the intellectual without economic training – underestimates how well markets work.12 I maintain that something quite different holds for democracy: it is widely over-rated not only by the public but by most economists too. Thus, while the general public underestimates how well markets work, even economists underestimate markets’ virtues relative to the democratic alternative.”

— Bryan Caplan

Bryan Caplan Quote: “Changing the people you see, changes the way you see people.”

25. “Changing the people you see, changes the way you see people.”

— Bryan Caplan

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