The market for political characteristics: the use and abuse of information
Abstract
Albert H. Wurth, Jr The market for political characteristics: the use and abuse of information The problem of information in individual choice represents a key nexus between politics and economics. The autonomy of the economic actor in the marketplace depends on the information available to the buyer about the good or service being sold. One illuminating approach to the significance of information in trans- actions is found in economists' characteristics theory. In this approach, buyers do not seek goods or services per se, but charac- teristics or qualities of the items traded, which are joined in various quantities and combinations in the actual commodities being bought and sold. In this paper, I use the approach of characteristics theory to examine the range and potential of consumer choices among characteristics as expressions of consumer sovereignty, and to identify the role of "political" characteristics as potentially critical elements of the overall packages of characteristics traded in the marketplace. Economic questions like demand for variety, product differentia- tion and advertising, as well as broader social issues like overcon- sumption, planned obsolescence, style and fashion changes, and the place of the market in society, are all illuminated by exposure to characteristics theory,