Scholarly Comments on Academic Economics

Rejoinder to Wittman: True Myths

by

*Bryan Caplan* is an associate professor of economics at George Mason University. He received his B.A. in economics from UC Berkeley in 1993 and his Ph.D. in economics from Princeton University in 1997. Most of his research questions, both theoretically a

Abstract

WITTMAN HAS WRITTEN A CHARACTERISTICALLY ENGAGING response to my critique. While he emphasizes his continued disagreement with me, I am struck by the important concessions he makes. In particular, he has virtually abandoned the rational expectations assumption that drives his trademark results. This retreat has a high price, because his new watered-down standards of rationality are consistent with vast democratic inefficiency. Apparently, democratic failure is not a myth after all.