Ralph Weikel
Professor Baugus
Microeconomics
27 November 2021
Blog Post 2
The theme Bible verses for week 13 were taken from 1 Samuel 8. These verses described the details of Israel’s request for a king. Israel was unsatisfied with God’s leadership and demanded a king be put into power just like the other nations around them. Samuel attempts to warn the people and tells them that a king will turn them all into slaves rather than unite them. It was to my surprise when we discussed political economy and public choice that I saw microeconomics tie into this story. The people of Israel were obviously ignorant to the results that would occur with a king put into power. This is comparable to the ignorance of voters in today’s democracy. Voter ignorance is significant for at least three reasons. If voters are uninformed on political issues and candidates’ stances on these issues, then they are more likely to vote and arrive at an undesired location. Secondly, ignorant voters will make decisions based on faulty knowledge or false headlines. Finally, not everyone is rationally ignorant. It truly astounds me that economics helped me understand this biblical concept. This is proof that economics is everywhere.