Do giving voice and social information help in revising a misconception about rent–control?

Citizens’ ability to make informed and thoughtful choices when voting for policy proposals rests on their exposure to, and acceptance of, accurate information about the costs and benefits that each proposal entails. We study whether certain social factors affect the disposition to drop a misconception, the belief that rent control increases the availability of affordable housing. We design an on-line experiment where all participants watch a video explaining the scientific evidence on the consequences of this policy. We test whether letting them give feedback (giving voice) and informing them about others’ change of beliefs (social information) helps in reducing the misconception. Giving voice does not have an additional effect relative to a benchmark group that only watches the video. Social information further reduces the misconception, but only when it specifies how different groups of people have responded to the video. This result is compatible with several mechanisms, but our experiment is not designed to identify them. Additionally, changes in beliefs translate into intended voting against the policy, and into recommending the video. Finally, ideological position and a zero–sum mentality are correlated with the initial misconception, but these two factors do not hinder participants’ disposition toward dropping it following the intervention.