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14“Search” Vs. “Browse”: A Theory of Error Grounded in Radical (Not Rational) IgnoranceCritical Review: A Journal of Politics and Society 23 (1): 73-104. 2011.Economists tend to view ignorance as “rational,” neglecting the possibility that ignorance is unintentional. This oversight is reflected in economists’ model of “information search,” which can be fruitfully contrasted with “information browsing.” Information searches are designed to discover unknown knowns, whose value is calculable ex ante, such that this value justifies the cost of the search. In this model of human information acquisition, there is no primal or “radical” ignorance that might …Read more
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26Beyond Cues and Political Elites: The Forgotten ZallerCritical Review: A Journal of Politics and Society 24 (4): 417-461. 2012.Zaller's Nature and Origins of Mass Opinion initially sets out an epistemic view of politics in which the ultimate determinants of political action are ideas about the society in which we act. These ideas are usually mediated to us by others, so Zaller begins the book by describing its topic as the influence of the media on public opinion, and he includes journalists among the “political elites” who exert this influence (along with politicians, public officials, and experts). But the book eventu…Read more
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83A Crisis of Politics, Not Economics: Complexity, Ignorance, and Policy FailureCritical Review: A Journal of Politics and Society 21 (2-3): 127-183. 2009.ABSTRACT The financial crisis was caused by the complex, constantly growing web of regulations designed to constrain and redirect modern capitalism. This complexity made investors, bankers, and perhaps regulators themselves ignorant of regulations promulgated across decades and in different “fields” of regulation. These regulations interacted with each other to foster the issuance and securitization of subprime mortgages; their rating as AA or AAA; and previously their concentration on the balan…Read more
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21Session VII. A new paradigm for the social sciences? Introductory remarks: Liah Greenfeld moderator: Jonathan Eastwood participants: Ali banuaziziCritical Review: A Journal of Politics and Society 16 (2-3): 208-228. 2004.
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49Roundtable 3: Political ignorance, empirical realitiesCritical Review: A Journal of Politics and Society 20 (4): 463-480. 2008.
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23Roundtable on Ideational Turns in the Four Subdisciplines of Political ScienceCritical Review: A Journal of Politics and Society 28 (2): 171-202. 2016.ABSTRACTOn September 4, 2015, the Political Epistemology/ideas, Knowledge, and Politics section of the American Political Science Association sponsored a roundtable on ideational turns in the four subdisciplines of political science as part of its annual meetings. Chairing the roundtable was Jeffrey Friedman, Department of Government, University of Texas, Austin. The other participants were Jeffrey Checkel, Department of Political Science, Simon Fraser University; Matthias Matthijs, School of Ad…Read more
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52The Irrelevance of Economic Theory to Understanding Economic IgnoranceCritical Review: A Journal of Politics and Society 20 (3): 195-258. 2008.Bryan Caplan’s The Myth of the Rational Voter treats several immensely important and understudied topics—public ignorance of economics, political ideology, and their connection to policy error—from an orthodox economic perspective whose applicability to these topics is overwhelmingly disproven by the available evidence. Moreover, Caplan adds to the traditional and largely irrelevant orthodox economic notion of rational public ignorance the claim that when voters favor counterproductive economic …Read more
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54“Search” vs. “browse”: A theory of error grounded in radical (not rational) ignoranceCritical Review: A Journal of Politics and Society 23 (1-2): 73-104. 2011.Economists tend to view ignorance as ?rational,? neglecting the possibility that ignorance is unintentional. This oversight is reflected in economists? model of ?information search,? which can be fruitfully contrasted with ?information browsing.? Information searches are designed to discover unknown knowns, whose value is calculable ex ante, such that this value justifies the cost of the search. In this model of human information acquisition, there is no primal or ?radical? ignorance that might …Read more
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52Roundtable 4: Political dogmatismCritical Review: A Journal of Politics and Society 20 (4): 481-498. 2008.
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35Roundtable 2: Ignorance and errorCritical Review: A Journal of Politics and Society 20 (4): 445-461. 2008.
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52Roundtable 1: Public ignorance: Rational, irrational, or inevitable?Critical Review: A Journal of Politics and Society 20 (4): 423-444. 2008.
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65Roundtable on Political EpistemologyCritical Review: A Journal of Politics and Society 26 (1-2): 1-32. 2014.On August 30, 2013, the American Political Science Association sponsored a roundtable on political epistemology as part of its annual meetings. Co-chairing the roundtable were Jeffrey Friedman, Department of Government, University of Texas at Austin; and Hélène Landemore, Department of Political Science, Yale University. The other participants were Scott Althaus, Department of Political Science, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; Mark Bevir, Department of Political Science, University o…Read more