10% Less Democracy: Why You Should Trust Elites a Little More and the Masses a Little Less

Product Description

During the 2016 presidential election, both Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders argued that elites were hurting the economy. But, drawing together evidence and theory from across economics, political science, and even finance, Garett Jones says otherwise. In 10% Less Democracy, he makes the case that the richest, most democratic nations would be better off if they slightly reduced accountability to the voting public, turning up the dial on elite influence.
To do this, Jones builds on three foundational lines of evidence in areas where he has personal experience. First, as a former staffer in the U.S. Senate, he saw how senators voted differently as elections grew closer. Second, as a macroeconomist, Jones knows the merits of “independent” central banks, which sit apart from the political process and are controlled by powerful insiders. The consensus of the field is that this detached, technocratic approach has worked far better than more political and democratic banking systems. Third, his previous research on the effects of cognitive skills on political, social, and economic systems revealed many ways in which well-informed voters improve government.
Discerning repeated patterns, Jones draws out practical suggestions for fine-tuning, focusing on the length of political terms, the independence of government agencies, the weight that voting systems give to the more-educated, and the value of listening more closely to a group of farsighted stakeholders with real skin in the game―a nation’s sovereign bondholders. Accessible to political news junkies while firmly rooted and rigorous, 10% Less Democracy will fuel the national conversation about what optimal government looks like.

Review

“Invocation of ‘democracy’ is one of the most ill-defined canards of modern discourse. In this revisionist work, rooted in common sense, Jones shows that effective representative government does not in fact rest on pure democracy, but does rely on well-functioning elites. Definitely recommended.” — Tyler Cowen ―
Holbert L. Harris Chair of Economics at George Mazon University, Author of Big Business: A Love Letter to an American Anti-Hero

“How can we rescue democracy from the slough of despond into which it has fallen? In this lucidly written book, Garett Jones makes the case for a surprising answer: the best way to improve democracy is to have a bit less of it. It’s only by handing power to technical experts, lengthening congressional terms, staggering elections, and reducing direct democracy that we can save the invaluable core of democracy from self-destruction.” — Adrian Wooldridge ―
co-author of Capitalism in America: An Economic History

“If a genie told me that James Madison had been reincarnated as another person and had written an update to the
Federalist Papers, I’d say, ‘It’s Garett Jones and
10% Less Democracy, right?'” — Tim Groseclose, Professor of Economics ―
George Mason University

”
10% Less Democracy is a joy to read. If you liked
Freakonomics or
Predictably Irrational, you’ll love this book. It deserves to be read widely, widely discussed

―

and
acted upon. A tour de force combining the best economic insight with real-world, practical applications. Every chapter demonstrates ways in which reducing democratic control over certain decisions reliably results in better outcomes for all. We should jettison our religious attachment to democracy and see it for what it is: a tool good only in moderation.” — Jason Brennan, author of
Cracks in the Ivory Tower

“In his cheeky new book,
10% Less Democracy, the economist Garett Jones makes a counter-zeitgeist case for more ‘epistocracy,’ or rule by the knowledgeable. Recent weeks have rather made the case for him and altered that zeitgeist.” — Janan Ganesh ―
Financial Times

“Mr Jones musters plenty of convincing evidence that fewer elections and more distance between voters and decisions make for better governance.” —
The Economist

“The belief in democracy is