Bryan has written a very interesting book. The conceptual idea is great. He believes, and argues with strength, that people are voting according to what makes them feel good. Neither their own selfish interests, nor indisputable facts about which economic policy measures really make people better off, count.
And what make people feel good? Most people (i.e. non-economists) are clearly anti-market, anti-foreign, generally pessimistic and has a make-work-bias. These theses are very well documented. These beliefs make people likely to vote pro-duties to protect US business and jobs, even tough most economists agree that this is normally a very bad idea.
People voting for what they think is good, can also help explain why most nations combat the climate problem in a very expensive and inefficient way. Subsidies for solar and wind power, trains and buses, are widespread, but a very costly path to reduce carbon emissions. Saving the rain forests is very cheap, but very few spend money on it.
The politics of most democracies clearly have flaws. However, Caplan is far to harsh on democracy. In many (most) areas, policies are reasonable and sound. There are duties on many products, but most products are now duty-free. All developed nations have elements of a welfare-state. But democratic governments all over the world deals fairly good in balancing the interests between moral hazard and social insurance.
I do agree on one of his main measures to make voters more rational and less ignorant: increase economic training at school. By and large, I believe the book is thrilling to some readers.
