But our brains look for ways to simplify the many choices we face. The simplest choice is binary:between A and B,black or white,good or bad. This fits with our tribal instincts. My tribe versus the rest,us and them,the good guys versus the bad guys.
Our two-party political system has been built to keep things simple. And thus,to minimise the need for hard thinking. Many people don’t have time to decide what they think about this policy or that,so they pick a political party and outsource their thinking to it.
“Am I for it or against it? Tell me what my party’s saying,and I’ll know what I think.” There’s plenty of survey evidence that people who voted for the government – any government – are more inclined to think the economy’s going well,whereas those who voted for the other side think it’s going badly.
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Too much of the outrage over Chalmers and his essay has come from media outlets whose business plan is to pander to the prejudices of a particular “market segment”.
Economists like to think of themselves as rational and objective,but economics and economy policy are highly susceptible to binary choices,and fads and fashions.
All I’ve seen over the years has made me a believer in the pendulum theory of history:we tend to swing from one extreme to the other. After World War II,people – particularly in Britain and Europe - were very aware of the failings of the private sector,so they decided to nationalise many industries.