EKIP– Expert Club for Economics and Politics A Different Opinion
In public choice theory (which became particularly popular after the Nobel Prize for one of its founders, James Buchanan ), there is talk of the so-called "rational ignorance". It is a situation in which the expenditure of resources (time, attention, effort, etc.) required for a person to inform themselves on a given issue exceeds the potential benefit of learning the specific information.
Rational ignorance is particularly useful as a tool to explain voting in elections or the way citizens follow political events. People work, study, raise children, take care of the household, try to relax – in practice, they rarely have the time to familiarize themselves with what law is being voted on in parliament or whether the Reformist Bloc is keeping its pre-election promises.
Who benefits from this?
Special interests (also known as lobbies), of course. They are highly motivated to use politics as a tool to advance their own agendas. The cost of special interests gaining something for themselves, spread across all citizens, is often imperceptible. In reality, each of us would only have to pay a small amount more if we increased tobacco subsidies, for example. At the same time, those lobbying for such an increase would make millions. And since it is perfectly rational to be ignorant of what all sorts of interests are up to (if we haven’t figured it out in our busy lives), it is much easier for lobbyists to get their way.
Perhaps this is the reason why, in just the last few days, we have seen another awakening of lobbies hungry for foreign resources, which are rushing to the instruments of the state to take from other members of society.
A few recent examples
- Some taxi drivers in Sofia are preparing a protest because (like their Western colleagues) they cannot cope with the competition of the new service. And instead of improving their conditions, their cars, their relationship with customers, which has been a problem for them for years, they will wring their hands through the state to stop better competitors.
- The Federation of Bulgarian Beekeepers has decided that it is not enough for them to receive a 3 leva subsidy from our taxes for each hive they own. They want to take over 10 times more – 40 leva. Of course, if they are not given the money of the other workers, they will protest, close roads, etc.
- The parliament has already voted on an absurd land law that provides for fines for non-EU foreigners owning land in Bulgaria. An act of madness that will have particularly serious consequences for the securities market. What is the point of the scheme, you might ask – for our people to buy the land at a better price, of course. More information about the case in Krasen Stanchev's article - http://ime.bg/bg/articles/absurdyt-s-novite-promeni-v-zakona-za-zemyata/
- Just a month ago, the government caved in to pressure from some of the most dangerous lobbyists – the unions. As a result, over 100 million leva in subsidies were voted to BDZ and the suspended special trains were launched. And so, to this day, trains with three (3) passengers continue to travel... and we continue to pay for it.
- The tricksters from the "right" government have decided to continue their attempt to nationalize the second pillar of pension insurance by "stimulating" the funds to invest in state-owned infrastructure construction. For the government and the construction lobby - profit, for us - you guessed it.
- And as a nice cover - Borisov's second cabinet will again try to make criticism of parties punishable. Something similar to the scheme they used to punish free media through the Financial Supervision Commission for speaking out against the wrong banking model. More information from Sega newspaper - http://www.segabg.com/article.php?id=742321
Even if we are not interested in politics, sooner or later it will knock on your door, either to ask for money or to ban something. And so it becomes even more clear how much truth there is in Frederic Bastiat's definition of the state, which he called the great fiction through which everyone tries to live off the backs of everyone else.
It is a pity that relatively few people realize the importance of politics for their own lives. As a result, and of course not without the efforts of politicians, "rational ignorance" gradually turns into irrational ignorance. The consequences are obvious - people vote for politicians who use little "tricks" that manage to manipulate them and in the end do not even leave them the crumbs from dinner, because even they have already been eaten by someone...