In public choice theory, “rational ignorance” refers to the choice not to inform oneself on some issue when the costs of doing so outweigh the benefits — in particular, when they outweigh the likelihood of one’s vote influencing the outcome of an election or one’s political pressure influencing a politician’s decisions. It also makes sense…

On the 21st installment of The Enragés, host Eric Fleischmann was joined by Cathy Reisenwitz (@CathyReisenwitz) to discuss her 2014 article Know Thine Enemy: Political Ignorance and Libertarianism (https://c4ss.org/content/28154).  Cathy Reisenwitz runs the Sex and the State newsletter on Substack and has bylines in TechCrunch, The Week, VICE, Daily Beast, and other fine publications. Support…

Sergio Malbergier writes (“E a estupidez, estupido!,” Folha de S. Paulo, September 11) about what marks, according to him, the current Brazilian presidential campaign: The utter ignorance of the voters. Malbergier believes that candidates and their marketers are so convinced of the electorate’s stupidity (Malbergier does not seem willing to differentiate between stupidity and ignorance) that they will always…