[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"archetype-name-map":3,"thinker-bryan-caplan":100},[4,7,10,13,16,19,22,25,28,31,34,37,40,43,46,49,52,55,58,61,64,67,70,73,76,79,82,85,88,91,94,97],{"slug":5,"name":6},"anarcho-capitalist","Anarcho-Capitalist",{"slug":8,"name":9},"establishment-progressive","Establishment Progressive",{"slug":11,"name":12},"progressive-activist","Progressive Activist",{"slug":14,"name":15},"techno-progressive","Techno-Progressive",{"slug":17,"name":18},"patriotic-progressive","Patriotic Progressive",{"slug":20,"name":21},"conservative-democrat","Conservative Democrat",{"slug":23,"name":24},"moderate-conservative","Moderate Conservative",{"slug":26,"name":27},"reform-conservative","Reform Conservative",{"slug":29,"name":30},"religious-conservative","Religious Conservative",{"slug":32,"name":33},"traditionalist","Traditionalist",{"slug":35,"name":36},"national-populist","National Populist",{"slug":38,"name":39},"left-nationalist","Left Nationalist",{"slug":41,"name":42},"welfare-nationalist","Welfare Nationalist",{"slug":44,"name":45},"moderate-liberal","Moderate Liberal",{"slug":47,"name":48},"pragmatic-centrist","Pragmatic Centrist",{"slug":50,"name":51},"authoritarian-left","Authoritarian Left",{"slug":53,"name":54},"authoritarian-right","Authoritarian Right",{"slug":56,"name":57},"democratic-socialist","Democratic Socialist",{"slug":59,"name":60},"christian-socialist","Christian Socialist",{"slug":62,"name":63},"market-socialist","Market Socialist",{"slug":65,"name":66},"trad-socialist","Trad Socialist",{"slug":68,"name":69},"civil-libertarian","Civil Libertarian",{"slug":71,"name":72},"compassionate-libertarian","Compassionate Libertarian",{"slug":74,"name":75},"left-libertarian","Left Libertarian",{"slug":77,"name":78},"traditional-libertarian","Traditional Libertarian",{"slug":80,"name":81},"classical-liberal","Classical Liberal",{"slug":83,"name":84},"social-liberal","Social Liberal",{"slug":86,"name":87},"national-conservative","National Conservative",{"slug":89,"name":90},"neoconservative","Neoconservative",{"slug":92,"name":93},"techno-authoritarian","Techno-Authoritarian",{"slug":95,"name":96},"independent-thinker","Independent Thinker",{"slug":98,"name":99},"market-liberal","Market Liberal",{"thinker":101,"archetypes":120,"traditions":124},{"id":102,"slug":103,"name":104,"sort_name":105,"birth_year":106,"death_year":107,"nationality":107,"era":107,"one_line":108,"bio":109,"portrait_url":107,"has_portrait":110,"sort_priority":111,"is_living":112,"created_at":113,"updated_at":114,"search_vector":115,"primary_role":116,"secondary_roles":117,"notable_quotes":118,"historical_tensions":119,"plcf_score":107,"mesr_score":107,"dipg_score":107,"cult_score":107,"figure_descriptor":107,"figure_class":107,"editorial_review":112},787,"bryan-caplan","Bryan Caplan","Caplan, Bryan",1971,null,"Bryan Caplan is a libertarian economist who challenges democracy's rationality and champions open borders as both an economic and moral imperative","Bryan Caplan is an American economist based at George Mason University, where he is associated with a tradition of libertarian and public-choice thinking that treats political outcomes through the lens of individual incentives and rational-choice analysis. He is best known for a body of work arguing that voters systematically hold biased and mistaken beliefs about economics, and that democratic decision-making therefore does not reliably aggregate into wise or welfare-maximizing policy. This argument—developed in his writing on what he has called the \"rational irrationality\" of voters—cut against the optimistic assumption that democracy corrects its own errors, and made him a prominent skeptical voice about the epistemic quality of mass democracy.\n\nCaplan's political thought sits within the classical-liberal and libertarian traditions, drawing on public-choice economics associated with George Mason and figures such as James Buchanan and Gordon Tullock. He is skeptical of state intervention across many domains and inclined to see markets and voluntary exchange as more reliable coordinators than political processes. His arguments about voter irrationality have been influential in debates over the limits of democracy, sometimes cited by those exploring alternatives or constraints on majoritarian decision-making, though Caplan himself frames his critique primarily as a case for reducing the scope of politics rather than replacing democracy with another system.\n\nHe is perhaps most widely recognized for his advocacy of open borders, arguing that restrictions on immigration impose large economic losses globally and represent a serious moral wrong by preventing people from improving their lives through movement. He has pressed this case in accessible formats aimed at broad audiences, framing free migration as one of the highest-return humanitarian and economic reforms available. Caplan has also written on education, questioning how much of schooling reflects genuine skill-building versus signaling, and on family and parenting from an economic perspective—work that similarly applies economic reasoning to challenge conventional wisdom.\n\nAs a public intellectual and longtime blogger, Caplan has cultivated an argumentative, contrarian style that engages directly with critics and popularizes economic reasoning for general readers. His influence lies less in shaping legislation than in reshaping how libertarians, economists, and interested laypeople think about the reliability of democratic choice, the ethics and economics of immigration, and the proper boundary between market and state.",false,5,true,"2026-05-04T20:40:51.368746+00:00","2026-07-09T03:53:20.214497+00:00","'access':294C 'across':182C 'advocaci':259C 'aggreg':95C 'aim':296C 'also':317C 'altern':220C 'american':29C 'analysi':64C 'anoth':249C 'appli':345C 'argu':74C,263C 'argument':104C,201C,363C 'associ':39C,163C 'assumpt':123C 'audienc':299C 'avail':314C 'base':31C 'belief':82C 'best':67C 'bias':79C 'blogger':358C 'bodi':71C 'border':17B,262C 'boundari':410C 'broad':298C 'bryan':1A,3B,25C 'buchanan':172C 'build':330C 'call':113C 'caplan':2A,4B,26C,144C,229C,315C,359C 'case':237C,292C 'challeng':10B,349C 'champion':15B 'choic':48C,63C,161C,400C 'cite':216C 'classic':152C 'classical-liber':151C 'constraint':222C 'contrarian':364C 'convent':350C 'coordin':196C 'correct':126C 'critic':370C 'critiqu':233C 'cultiv':361C 'cut':119C 'debat':209C 'decis':89C,226C 'decision-mak':88C,225C 'democraci':11B,125C,143C,214C,247C 'democrat':87C,399C 'develop':105C 'direct':368C 'domain':184C 'draw':157C 'econom':21B,84C,162C,270C,312C,340C,346C,373C,404C 'economist':8B,30C,390C 'educ':320C 'engag':367C 'epistem':139C 'error':129C 'ethic':402C 'exchang':192C 'explor':219C 'famili':335C 'figur':168C 'format':295C 'frame':231C,300C 'free':301C 'general':376C 'genuin':327C 'georg':33C,165C 'global':272C 'gordon':174C 'highest':308C 'highest-return':307C 'hold':78C 'humanitarian':310C 'immigr':267C,406C 'imper':24B 'impos':268C 'improv':283C 'incent':59C 'inclin':186C 'individu':58C 'influenc':379C 'influenti':207C 'intellectu':355C 'interest':392C 'intervent':181C 'irrat':116C,204C 'jame':171C 'known':68C 'larg':269C 'laypeopl':393C 'legisl':384C 'len':56C 'less':381C 'liber':153C 'libertarian':7B,44C,155C,389C 'lie':380C 'limit':212C 'live':285C 'longtim':357C 'loss':271C 'made':131C 'majoritarian':224C 'make':90C,227C 'mani':183C 'market':189C,412C 'mason':34C,166C 'mass':142C 'maxim':101C 'migrat':302C 'mistaken':81C 'moral':23B,277C 'movement':287C 'much':323C 'one':304C 'open':16B,261C 'optimist':122C 'outcom':53C 'parent':337C 'peopl':281C 'perhap':253C 'perspect':341C 'polici':102C 'polit':52C,146C,198C,243C 'popular':372C 'press':290C 'prevent':280C 'primarili':234C 'process':199C 'promin':134C 'proper':409C 'public':47C,160C,354C 'public-choic':46C,159C 'qualiti':140C 'question':321C 'rather':244C 'ration':13B,62C,115C 'rational-choic':61C 'reader':377C 'reason':347C,374C 'recogn':256C 'reduc':239C 'reflect':326C 'reform':313C 'reliabl':94C,195C,397C 'replac':246C 'repres':274C 'reshap':387C 'restrict':265C 'return':309C 'school':325C 'scope':241C 'see':188C 'serious':276C 'shape':383C 'signal':332C 'similar':344C 'sit':148C 'skeptic':135C,178C 'skill':329C 'skill-build':328C 'sometim':215C 'state':180C,414C 'style':365C 'system':250C 'systemat':77C 'therefor':91C 'think':49C,394C 'though':228C 'thought':147C 'tradit':42C,156C 'treat':51C 'tullock':175C 'univers':35C 'versus':331C 'voic':136C 'voluntari':191C 'voter':76C,118C,203C 'welfar':100C 'welfare-maxim':99C 'wide':255C 'wisdom':351C 'wise':97C 'within':149C 'work':73C,342C 'write':108C 'written':318C 'wrong':278C","economist",[],[],[],[121],{"archetype_slug":71,"strength":122,"description":123},10,"Caplan doubts voters are reliably rational, and it leads him to throw the big questions open — championing open borders as an imperative both economic and moral. His book Open Borders is where that double case gets made.",[]]