The perfect explanation as to why “progressives” vote as they do, and those they vote for are as they are.

It’s one of those dispatches from the world of social science that leave some gloating and some fuming: A pair of researchers have concluded that when it comes to grasping basic economic concepts, liberals and Democrats are significantly less “enlightened” than conservatives and libertarians.

Researchers Daniel Klein and Zeljka Buturovic put forth their analysis in a recent article in Econ Journal Watch, an online scholarly journal, and in a subsequent column Mr. Klein wrote for the Wall Street Journal. Needless to say, it has elicited a less-than-favorable peer review from liberal economists.

Americans describing themselves as conservative, very conservative and libertarian “do reasonably well” when asked about basic economic questions involving supply, demand and the effects of regulation, concluded Mr. Klein, an economics professor at George Mason University, and Ms. Buturovic, an associate researcher with the polling firm Zogby International.

“But the left has trouble squaring economic thinking with their political psychology, morals and aesthetics,” the two write.

The entire story.