Publications [#357974] of Michael C. Munger

Journal Articles

1. Munger, MC, Ideology and the Direction of Causation in the Acquisition and Maintenance of Shared Belief Systems, Kyklos, vol. 73 no. 3 (August, 2020), pp. 392-409 [doi]
   (last updated on 2026/01/23)

   Abstract:
   Preferences and beliefs are more widely and systematically shared than might be predicted by a subjective, idiosyncratic view arising out of neoclassical economics. Two works were published twenty five years ago on just this question, contesting conceptions of belief acquisition: Denzau and North (1994) and Hinich and Munger (1994). Denzau and North argued that beliefs are simplified representations of reality that provide conventional means of interpreting the world around us; Hinich and Munger agreed. But Denzau and North argued that beliefs were essentially self-perpetuating, and not subject to optimizing revision based on feedback, while Hinich and Munger followed the orthodox Downsian notion of a heuristic that economizes (in equilibrium) on the cost of becoming informed about politics. The big difference is that the Hume-Denzau-North conception follows the “Folk Theorem,” making no claim about the optimality of the belief systems that a society comes to share.