The People’s Romance: Why People Love Government (as Much as They Do): The Independent Review: The Independent Institute

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The Independent Review
Volume 10 Number 1
Summer 2005

The People’s Romance: Why People Love Government (as Much as They Do)
By Daniel B. Klein

Why do some people never support a free-market proposal, even when they think it would work better than government intervention? For many, the reason is that collective political action offers the romantic notion that “we’re all working together,” while market mechanisms seem to them less lofty because they rely on the self-interest of individuals acting privately.

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