Let us define one voter's as the instrumental value of policy A, as the expressive value of policy A, and as the probability of decisiveness. H. Now recall that for most realistic elections, . In markets, the logic of decisiveness reverses. The typical consumer choice in markets is almost completely decisive. E. Thus, the relative prices of instrumental and expressive value differ systematically between markets and politics.
Expressive value is dramatically cheaper in politics than in markets.
This does not mean that we should expect no role for expressive value in markets. But it does mean that we should expect vastly more in politics. C. Individual voters personally enjoy all of the expressive value of their vote, but get no personal benefit from voting for policies with high instrumental value. People are optimally responding to the incentives they face. At first, the idea that the instrumental and expressive value of policies can diverge is puzzling.