Counting how votes count
A rational person will vote, economists show, as an act of altruism.
Voting can look like a bum deal. After all, odds that your one vote will determine the outcome of the presidential election are extraordinarily low. Even if the election makes a very big difference to you personally — say, you’ll be $20,000 richer if your candidate gets elected — the chance that your vote will make the difference is so low that the expected payoff for voting is minuscule. Factor in the time and trouble, and why would anyone bother?
Indeed, some economists have concluded that, strictly speaking, voting in large elections isn’t rational. People do it, economists say, because they’re confused or irrational — or, perhaps, because it makes them feel good.