Out of Sight, out of Mind: How Opportunity Cost Neglect Undermines Democracy

Authors

Gary M. Lucas Jr, Texas A&M University School of LawFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

4-2015

Journal Title

New York University Journal of Law and Liberty

ISSN

1930-5044

Abstract

Every government program has an opportunity cost, which consists of the private and public goods that society must forgo to make the program possible. In evaluating government programs, rational voters would take opportunity costs into account. Unfortunately, opportunity costs are usually implicit, and psychologists have shown that decision makers tend to irrationally ignore implicit information while giving too much weight to salient situational elements. This Article presents evidence that the bias against implicit information causes voters to neglect the opportunity costs of government programs. The Article also explains for the first time the implications of opportunity cost neglect for democracy.

First Page

249

Last Page

343

Volume Number

9

Issue Number

1

Publisher

New York University School of Law

Recommended Citation

Gary M. Lucas Jr, Out of Sight, out of Mind: How Opportunity Cost Neglect Undermines Democracy, 9 N.Y.U. J.L. & Liberty 249 (2015).
Available at: https://scholarship.law.tamu.edu/facscholar/525