Interesting to see who doesn't understand basic economics

ver Suspect That Leftists Don't Understand Basic Economics?  Then you'll like the results of this poll.

Who is better informed about the policy choices facing the country—liberals, conservatives or libertarians?  According to a Zogby International survey that I write about in the May issue of Econ Journal Watch, the answer is unequivocal: The left flunks Econ 101.

Zogby researcher Zeljka Buturovic and I considered the 4,835 respondents' (all American adults) answers to eight survey questions about basic economics.  We also asked the respondents about their political leanings: progressive/very liberal; liberal; moderate; conservative; very conservative; and libertarian.
. . .
How did the six ideological groups do overall?  Here they are, best to worst, with an average number of incorrect responses from 0 to 8: Very conservative, 1.30; Libertarian, 1.38; Conservative, 1.67; Moderate, 3.67; Liberal, 4.69; Progressive/very liberal, 5.26.

Americans in the first three categories do reasonably well.  But the left has trouble squaring economic thinking with their political psychology, morals and aesthetics.

The results are amusing — until you remember how many voters there are in those last two groups.

- 8:29 AM, 8 June 2010   [link]