Dani Rodrik : "When Ideas Trump Interests: Preferences, Worldviews, and Policy Innovations"

pubs.aeaweb.org/doi/pdfplus/10.1257/jep.28.1.189"

Ideas are strangely absent from modern models of political economy. In most eas are strangely absent from modern models of political economy. In most prevailing theories of policy choice, the dominant role is instead played prevailing theories of policy choice, the dominant role is instead played by “vested interests”—elites, lobbies, and rent-seeking groups which get y “vested interests”—elites, lobbies, and rent-seeking groups which get their way at the expense of the general public.

I  will challenge the notion that there is a well-defined mapping from “interests” to outcomes