The Virtues of Voting

Is a George Mason economist allowed to talk about this?

Ali left this comment on my recent post, Yes We Can:

The more I study Public Choice, the more convinced I am that voting is useless.

I just left a response to his comment and thought it deserved a post of its own. Here is what I wrote:

I understand your sentiment, Ali, but think you may be taking away the wrong lesson. I don't think voting is useless. It has significant positive externalities when exercised in large numbers. Economically speaking, perhaps the optimal strategy is to free-ride, but I think that misses a large human side of the equation. I was a Boy Scout long before I became an economist and do believe there is value in being a contributing citizen to the society you belong to. I get utility from this and believe it helps set positive examples to others, reinforcing this behavior. I think many of the processes of democracy (such as voting, rallying, making speeches, etc.) serves to help preserve social order, promote peace within a society, and can be a vehicle for positive social change. It’s something I think is often under-appreciated by many economic models and economists.

We’ve talked before about how different societies seem to get their “pumps primed” in either positive or negative directions that affect respect for the rule of law, functioning of institutions, etc. Part of this depends on how you expect other actors around you to behave. Part of the reason democracy works to help maintain social order is because people believe it does. I think there is a strong tacit knowledge contained in the social stigmatization of non-voters. Don’t get so caught up in the technical analysis that you become cynical and miss out on part of the larger human dimension that is getting played out in election processes.

See my recent post on The Virtues of Democracy for more on this.

If you’re doubtful about the meaningfulness of voting and/or democracy, ask yourself if you’d rather live in a region of the world with or without democracy. Democracies will win my vote (no pun intended) every time. They aren’t perfect, but they are better.

P.S. -- Ali replies here. I will respond to his reply later today -- I'm on my way out to GMU's Fairfax campus to take care of some administrative stuff and get some of Triya's Indian cooking!