Anthony Downs facts for kids

Anthony Downs (born November 21, 1930 – died October 2, 2021) was an American economist. He studied how governments work and how people make choices in politics. He was very interested in topics like how cities are planned, how people get around, and how housing works.

Downs wrote many important books. Two of his most famous are An Economic Theory of Democracy (1957) and Inside Bureaucracy (1967). These books helped shape how people think about public choice, which is about how people make decisions in government and public life. He also famously predicted that building more roads might not solve traffic jams. This is because more people would then use the new roads, causing new traffic.

He worked at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C. He also taught at the University of Chicago. Later, he was a visiting expert at the Public Policy Institute of California. Downs was also chosen as a fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration.

Anthony Downs's Early Life

James Anthony Downs was born on November 21, 1930, in Evanston, Illinois. His dad started a company that gave advice about real estate. Anthony grew up in Park Ridge, Illinois, near Chicago.

He went to Carleton College and earned a degree in 1952. He studied international relations and political ideas. While there, he was elected president of the student body. He later said this experience helped him want to study democracy. He then went to Stanford University for his master's and PhD degrees in economics. He finished his PhD in 1956.

After college, he joined the Navy for three years. He worked as an intelligence officer and served on an aircraft carrier. This ship sailed in the Mediterranean Sea. After the Navy, he worked for his father's company. He also taught for a short time at the University of Chicago.

His Career and Ideas

Anthony Downs advised many large companies and government groups. He worked with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). He also advised the White House. In 1967, President Lyndon B. Johnson asked him to join a special commission on city problems. Later, HUD Secretary Jack Kemp asked him to join another group. This group looked at rules that made affordable housing difficult. Downs also helped the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund.

Understanding Democracy and Politics

In his important book, An Economic Theory of Democracy (1957), Downs introduced a new way to think about politics. He used a "left-right" line to explain political ideas. On the "left," he placed parties that wanted the government to control everything. On the "right," he placed parties that wanted very little government control.

He believed that most voters do not have all the information when they vote. So, they often focus on how much the government should be involved in the economy. Downs's idea came from Harold Hotelling, who used a similar idea to explain how stores choose where to open. Downs's book is now one of the most referenced books in political science. His left-right idea is now part of the median voter theory. This theory was first explained by Duncan Black.

In An Economic Theory of Democracy, Downs also talked about the "paradox of voting." This means that some parts of political life cannot be explained by voters only caring about themselves. Downs showed that in democracies, most people have moderate opinions. This means that political parties often try to be centrist to appeal to more voters.

Ideas on Housing and Traffic

Later in his career, Downs focused on housing issues. He wrote about rent control and affordable housing. His book The Revolution in Real Estate Finance (1985) predicted that housing growth would slow down. It also predicted that housing prices would decrease. Downs also studied transportation economics.

In 1962, Downs published his famous Downs's Law of Peak-Hour Traffic Congestion. This law says that on busy city highways, traffic jams will always fill up the road's maximum capacity. This means that building more lanes does not really stop traffic jams. This happens because more people will start using the road once it's bigger. This idea is sometimes called Induced demand.

His book, Stuck in Traffic (1992), explained the problems caused by traffic. He suggested that charging people to use roads (called road pricing) was the only way to truly fix traffic. Some traffic engineers did not agree with him. But many of his predictions about traffic came true. So, he published an updated version called Still Stuck in Traffic (2004).

Downs's ideas are now being used in some places. For example, some busy American highways now have special lanes. These are called high-occupancy toll (HOT) lanes. Also, some cities charge a fee to drive in busy areas. This is called congestion pricing. It is used in cities like Singapore, London, Stockholm, Valletta, and Milan.

He joined the Brookings Institution in 1977. This is a research group in America. He continued his work on housing and traffic there.

Downs wrote or co-wrote 24 books and over 500 articles. His most important books are An Economic Theory of Democracy (1957) and Inside Bureaucracy (1967). These books have been translated into many languages. They are seen as very important for the public choice school of political economy.

He was a visiting expert at the Public Policy Institute of California in San Francisco. He worked there between 2004 and 2005.

His Personal Life

Anthony Downs met his first wife, Mary Katherine Watson, at a high school dance. He challenged her to a game of chess, and she won! They got married in 1956 and had five children. Mary Katherine passed away in 1998. Downs later married his second wife, Darian Dreyfuss Olsen.

Anthony Downs died peacefully in Bethesda, Maryland, on October 2, 2021.

See also

• Rational choice theory
• Rational ignorance
• Induced demand