The Power of "Free" and our Dysfunctional Republic

Julian Adorney recently published an article on the Mises Institute website entitled:

"Behavioral Economics and Irrational Voters"

In her article, Ms. Adorney discusses the book "Predictably Irrational", by Duke University professor Dan Ariely (psychology and behavioral economics) in which that author attempts an explanation of consumer behaviors in a market economy. Three of Dr. Ariely's basic ideas are:

1. Consumers tend to be irrational beings

2. As a result of this, a market economy cannot sufficiently self-regulate therefore

3. Government regulation of the marketplace is not only preferable but essential

Some might then extend Dr. Ariely's observation still further and assert that if some government market regulation is good then more must surely be better. In fact, many do draw this extension and in areas that expand well beyond market economics. If some government is good, more government must surely be better.  

The Power and the Promise of "Free"

Dr. Ariely also found that the concept of "free" is a sort of "emotional hot button" with most consumers and he supports his thesis, in part, with the example of an experiment in which consumers "were first asked to choose between a $0.01 Hershey’s kiss and a $0.30 Lindt truffle. Consumers chose the Lindt by big margins, because at $0.30 a Lindt truffle is a steal. But when the experimenters lowered the price of each product by $0.01, so the Lindt became $0.29 and the Hershey’s kiss became free, the number of consumers choosing the Hershey’s more than doubled."

The conclusion: Make something free, or at least enhance the perception that it is, and you are more likely to convince people to accept it. People will often accept something of lesser quality than they truly want, just because someone tells them there will be little or no cost attached.

In her own article, Ms. Adorney suggests that Dr. Ariely's observations can also be readily extrapolated to the political sphere and that they help explain how many voters seem to irrationally select their political candidates based largely upon how much "free stuff" those candidates promise to deliver if elected.

Herding

Ms. Adorney goes on to suggest that the power and promise of "free" then combines with another irrational economic behavior known as "herding" (also sometimes known as the "bandwagon effect") wherein people see a lot of other people joining a movement or supporting a candidate and simply assume that a given cause or candidate surely must have significant merit solely on the basis that there are so many people already supporting them.

If accurate, I think these two concepts might go a very long way to explaining how our nation got to where it is in present day. We should have a healthy, vibrant, and structurally sound Republic relying on a "rational, smart electorate" to choose its leaders.

Instead we have an ever-weakening, debt-ridden, devolving Republic that continues to founder both economically and culturally.

Many Challenges

We have more people on some form of public assistance than ever before. We have a deeper national debt than ever before. Far more employable workers run out of patience and drop out of the labor force each month than find gainful employment. While still dominant, our currency is becoming less valuable (due largely to our ever-deepening debt, chronic borrowing, and excessive and artificial increases of our nation's monetary base). Illegal immigration is at an all time high and our unwillingness to secure our borders more effectively is creating monstrous pressures on our already struggling economy. The comparative quality of our nations public education has been declining for many years and continues to do so. 

I believe all of these national-level challenges, and many others, can be tied directly to the decisions the majority of voters make at the ballot box.

A Simple Solution

Unless more of us cease our unfortunate habit of "herding" and stop being so easily beguiled by the promise and the power of "free", these challenges are not going to improve and will only become much worse.

If our already dysfunctional Republic does get much worse, we may soon find we are unable to arrest its current downward slide into governmental, societal, cultural oblivion.

We must again become the "rational, smart electorate" we once were. A successful Constitutional Republic requires it. If we truly want to retain ours, we must start translating that desire into more effective voting at the ballot box.


John B. Greet is a Long Beach native and retired LBPD Sergeant, currently living in the Pacific Northwest.