The Problem I Have With All These Models Is That They Will Not Vote for That.

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Riker: Politicians will not vote for the experts outcome. The premise was that that's politically impossible. So we bring in this institutional solution and say, you know what, we're going to save you. Riker: This is pretty simple but it's complicated because there's more than one round. Things are going to change.

Economist and political scientist Michael Munger of Duke University talks about industrial policy with EconTalk host Russ Roberts. Munger argues that in a democracy, the default outcome for industrial policy is crony capitalism--attempts to improve on that outcome either by appointing experts or eliminating cronyism are going to fail for political reasons. The conversation concludes with a discussion of the reliability of Munger's claim and what options are left for dissatisfied reformers.