tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5698599151422542939.post617716260738149275..comments2023-09-21T05:14:00.254-04:00Comments on Euvoluntary Exchange: The Enigma of FordMungowitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02340064320347875601noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5698599151422542939.post-82519046731117961902014-07-31T16:01:03.794-04:002014-07-31T16:01:03.794-04:00Agreed.
"it's not primary thing determi...Agreed. <br /><br />"it's not primary thing determining effectiveness."<br /><br />The role of luck is easily understated. Especially here.Samuel Wilsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16635024719984640919noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5698599151422542939.post-18384456576647268822014-07-31T15:05:35.593-04:002014-07-31T15:05:35.593-04:00Maybe this is a sign of my cynicism, but I view th...Maybe this is a sign of my cynicism, but I view the "grim dedication" stuff as mostly either kayfabe or irrelevant.<br /><br />Also, note that it's not that fun-loving buffoonery doesn't hurt one's effectiveness. It does, but it's not primary thing determining effectiveness.<br /><br />You can also think of a certain disregard for the law as one of the perquisites of office. Let's say you are significantly more effective than any competitor. Your money compensation can't go up, but you can be more buffoonish as a compensating differential.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5698599151422542939.post-51303215431437216272014-07-31T14:06:43.209-04:002014-07-31T14:06:43.209-04:00If you're right (and I strongly suspect that y...If you're right (and I strongly suspect that you are), this means that Ford's stumbled on the lovely truth that outcomes may be unrelated to treating the office seriously, that a grim dedication to duty can produce the same results as being a fun-loving buffoon. This is surely one of the finest accidental discoveries of political economy in recent history.Samuel Wilsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16635024719984640919noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5698599151422542939.post-70669803582205347532014-07-31T12:56:32.600-04:002014-07-31T12:56:32.600-04:00Voters want political effectiveness and don't ...Voters want political effectiveness and don't want politicians to have personal foibles. Successful politicians are a truncated distribution - those who have foibles but no effectiveness are not observed, and those who are effective and personally "clean" move up to higher office. So at any level of power, there is an observed tradeoff between these two characteristics. Thus, we'd expect politicians who are good at delivering the goods relative to their peers to be less personally salient. Smoking crack is a relatively minor offense; most politicians engage in it, albeit secretly, but there are more serious offenses - killing hookers, waiving your dick at reporters, shutting down bridges to pursue a personal vendetta, for example.<br /><br />I don't know anything about Mr. Ford, but I can surmise that he must be fairly politically effective. I recently overheard some political aides (I live in DC) discussing how effective Marion Barry was at delivering goods to his constituents.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com