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The unintended psychological and behavioral drawbacks of big push strategies: Increased psychological entitlement, selfish behavior, and decreased prosocial behavior

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  • Qin, Xin
  • Yam, Kai Chi
  • Ma, Guangrong
  • Chen, Chen
  • Zhu, Hang
  • Wang, Haixia

Abstract

Governments and policy makers often adopt big push strategies to help under-developing regions achieve economic growth and shake off poverty. Although numerous studies have documented big push strategies’ positive impacts on indicators of economic development (e.g., poverty rate, unemployment rate, etc.), the current research presents evidence of serious psychological and behavioral drawbacks of such policies. Specifically, we examine China's Great Western Development (GWD) Program as a recent prominent example of a big push strategy, in which approximately 370 million people receive preferential benefits while more than 1 billion people do not. Using a regression discontinuity design based on distance from the boundary of the GWD Program (+/- 100 km), we find that individuals residing in non-GWD regions report higher levels of psychological entitlement compared to their counterparts residing in GWD regions. Furthermore, individuals’ psychological entitlement was positively associated with their selfish behavior and negatively associated with their prosocial behavior. Our results offer initial evidence of the unintended psychological and behavioral consequences of big push strategies.

Suggested Citation

  • Qin, Xin & Yam, Kai Chi & Ma, Guangrong & Chen, Chen & Zhu, Hang & Wang, Haixia, 2022. "The unintended psychological and behavioral drawbacks of big push strategies: Increased psychological entitlement, selfish behavior, and decreased prosocial behavior," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 97(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:soceco:v:97:y:2022:i:c:s2214804322000180
    DOI: 10.1016/j.socec.2022.101842
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