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How do voters form positive economic beliefs? Evidence from the Survey of Americans and Economists on the Economy

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Bryan Caplan ()

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Abstract

Beliefs about normative economics appear to be primarily determined by sociotropic rather than egocentric variables. (Sears & Funk, 1990; Citrin & Green, 1990) Using the Survey of Americans and Economists on the Economy, the current paper finds that the same holds for positiveeconomic beliefs in most – but not all – cases. This hinges on whether a question is “causal” or “non-causal”: Causal beliefs depend on sociotropic variables, especially education and ideology; non-causal beliefs, in contrast, depend on egocentric variables, with income growth playing the leading role. This is consistent with a cognitive model where actors answer easier questions using personal experience, and harder ones with ``off-the-shelf" theories. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2006

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File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1007/s11127-006-9026-z
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Publisher Info
Article provided by Springer in its journal Public Choice.

Volume (Year): 128 (2006)
Issue (Month): 3 (September)
Pages: 367-381
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Handle: RePEc:kap:pubcho:v:128:y:2006:i:3:p:367-381

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Web page: http://www.springerlink.com/link.asp?id=100332

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Related research
Keywords: Economic beliefs; Sociotropic voting; Voter cognition;

References listed on IDEAS
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  1. Kenny, Lawrence W., 1982. "Economies of scale in schooling," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 2(1), pages 1-24, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  2. Blendon, Robert J, et al, 1997. "Bridging the Gap between the Public's and Economists' Views of the Economy," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 11(3), pages 105-18, Summer. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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This page was last updated on 2009-11-25.

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