I came across Jason Brennan while reading “Elements of Justice” by David Schmidz. I read a few of his papers this week and really enjoyed them. His critique of voting is one the best I have come across. Here is the brief summary.
1. One has an obligation not to engage in collectively harmful activities when refraining from such activities does not impose significant personal costs.
2. Voting badly is to engage in a collectively harmful activity, while abstaining imposes low personal costs.
3. Therefore, one should not vote badly.
Voting badly leads to negative externalities. If most people vote badly, they impose a cost on themselves and others.
He also has a nice paper on the Rawls’ Paradox. Here is the abstract:
Rawls’ theory of justice is paradoxical, for it requires a society to aim directly to maximize the basic goods received by the least advantaged even if directly aiming is self-defeating. Rawls’ reasons for rejecting capitalist systems commit him to holding that a society must not merely maximize the goods received by the least advantaged, but must do so via specific institutions. By Rawls’ own premises, in the long run directly aiming to satisfy the difference principle is contrary to the interests of the poor, though it is meant to aid them.
In other words, adopting policies that focus on maximizing the basic goods to the least advantaged leads to lower economic growth. Over time, this policy harms the least advantaged because they are worse off.
