A commenter on MR takes a swipe at Alex and at public choice:

Well, of course you'd sneer. You're a public choicer at GMU.

If you regard humans as nothing more than self-interested utility maximizers, then such claims about the motives and intentions of the Sierra Club are silly.

But we have other social identities besides being consumers. We're also citizens, family members and members of organized religions. These roles/identities can influence our motives and goals.

I think in 50 years we will look back on public choice theory and wonder how so many smart people could have so stupid. The equivalent of vulgar Marxism.

Let's see--one public choice concept is that bureaucrats aren't the selfless public servants as they are often portrayed. Consider these news items:

1. A crane collapsed in NYC this morning causing injuries (perhaps 2 dead according to one news report) and substantial damage. It's the latest of several crane collapses in NYC over the past year or so. One crane inspector has been arrested on charges of fililng false inspection reports--it's not clear why he allegedly filed false reports (napping? taking bribes?). So much for the selfless public servant.

2. An NPR report on the Chinese earthquake:

At the Fuxing primary school Wednesday, funeral music played as parents lined the driveway. Each wore a black armband and carried the photo of a lost child. Their faces were drawn with sleeplessness and grief.

At least 127 students died when the three-story school collapsed. The buildings around the school are largely undamaged — leaving parents angry.

"We parents don't believe our children died in a natural disaster," said Chen Hupei, his eyes red. "It was man-made."

Chen Hupei's 10-year-old son, Chen Xin, who loved roller skating and basketball, died in a ground-floor classroom because he couldn't escape in time.

Another parent tapped the steel rebar in the concrete pillars. The parents believe there was too little steel in the building's structure, that its foundations weren't sunk deep enough and that there were no emergency exits.

"I believe the government meant well when it built this school," Chen said. "But some corrupt officials were saving money to pocket themselves. This school was built in 1989 when the safety guidelines weren't so strict. But it should have been subject to safety checks twice a year, under a law passed two years ago."

One angry parent shouted that none of the buildings fell down as he gestured at surrounding blocks, while following the official around.

Many noticed the town's government buildings were largely undamaged. It is a pattern that has been repeated elsewhere.

That is because China is building its schools on the cheap. Regulations allow a budget of $350 per square meter to build government offices in towns. That compares with the cost of $64 per square meter for schools in one nearby county. Money is at the heart of what went wrong here.

Another parent accused the school authorities of renting out the newer one-story classrooms to a business to make money — moving the children into the older building. The newer classrooms were unscathed. She says that the authorities condemned the children to death.

The parents were also angry with the school's teachers, all of whom escaped the building and fled the scene.

"Look at my hands," one parent says. "I dug through the rubble to look for my children. Then look at the teachers' hands."