The strengths of the economic approach are its ability to bring to bear the
machinery of rational choice on a set of questions that political theorists have
debated for centuries. While not well equipped to consider normative issues such
as whether groups are good or bad, economists can provide us with considerable
insight into the process of group formation and maintenance. Further, the economic
approach provides predictions about what are the likely outcomes of
democratic politics, and how groups shape that process. This information is important,
for we cannot judge interest groups' worth without truly understanding
what they are and what they do.