Question

1.Many people are concerned about voter apathy. Use economics to explain why there is a lack of interest in voting and politics.?

2. Do “good politics” and “good economics” always coincide? Explain why or why not?

Answer 1

1. Causes of Voter Apathy:

- Some people just don’t care about politics and if you belong to that social group you are most like to have low interest in politics and voting.

In U.S. there are a lot of elections and we depend on voters to make many decisions which can be a hassle for voters as learning about every single issue takes time. If people are asked to vote too often, or choose a position on too many subjects, they might just opt out of the whole process.

There isn’t a desire in the people to change the political system, only when people's desire for change with the political system they will show interest in politics and voting.

The structure of government is a huge hindrance too. The public do not think about the world within the silos of government departments, the lack of meaningful communication between departments gets in the way of effective public engagement.

These are some of the reasons which can be defined as why people lack interest in voting and politics. From economics point of view, when their needs are not met, when the desire is not there, the people don't strive to achieve that.

2. Good Politics and Good Economics don't always coincide. Although there are situation sometimes when they do but not all the time. Politics may generally be assumed to be good when the ruling party favours the common people and satisfies common man's need to prove the self as responsive governance. But in fulfilling common man's need, it often becomes necessary to adopt various economic policies/programmes which are not feasible from the country’s economic point of view and therefore turns out to be bad economics.

Politicians usually focus on a short term economic growth especially during the year when election is due. Voters do respond to the economic conditions but they don't look it from the long term perspective, they see what is happening now, in the present situation and how is economy is performing presently. So politicians focus on economic conditions on hand, they will try to increase the household income in the current year which will cost many times at the expense of good economic policies for future time periods. Also people vote not just for the economic condition but also how much improvement is there in law and order.