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Popular Attitudes Towards Markets and Democracy: Russia and United States Compared 25 Years Later

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Abstract

We repeat a survey we did in the waning days of the Soviet Union (Shiller, Boycko and Korobov, AER 1991) comparing attitudes towards free markets between Moscow and New York. Additional survey questions, from Gibson Duch and Tedin (J. Politics 1992) are added to compare attitudes towards democracy. Two comparisons are made: between countries, and through time, to explore the existence of international differences in allegiance to democratic free-market institutions, and the stability of these differences. While we find some differences in attitudes towards markets across countries and through time, we do not find most of the differences large or significant. Our evidence does not support a common view that the Russian personality is fundamentally illiberal or non-democratic.

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  • Maxim Boycko & Robert J. Shiller, 2016. "Popular Attitudes Towards Markets and Democracy: Russia and United States Compared 25 Years Later," Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers 2030, Cowles Foundation for Research in Economics, Yale University.
    • Handle: RePEc:cwl:cwldpp:2030
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    1. Henry E. Hale, 2011. "The Myth of Mass Russian Support for Autocracy: The Public Opinion Foundations of a Hybrid Regime," Europe-Asia Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 63(8), pages 1357-1375.
    2. Robert J. Shiller & Maxim Boycko & Vladimir Korobov, 1992. "Hunting for Homo Sovieticus: Situational versus Attitudinal Factors in Economic Behavior," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 23(1), pages 127-194.
    3. Shiller, Robert J & Boycko, Maxim & Korobov, Vladimir, 1991. "Popular Attitudes toward Free Markets: The Soviet Union and the United States Compared," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 81(3), pages 385-400, June.
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    Cited by:

    1. Brigitte Granville & Jaume Martorell Cruz, 2016. "Squared Segmentation: How the Insider/Outsider divide across Public/Private Employment shapes attitudes towards markets," Working Papers 78, Queen Mary, University of London, School of Business and Management, Centre for Globalisation Research.
    2. Goff, Sandra H. & Noblet, Caroline L., 2018. "Efficient, but immoral?: Assessing market attitudes as multidimensional," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 170(C), pages 96-99.
    3. Boettke, Peter J. & Candela, Rosolino A. & Zhukov, Konstantin, 2023. "The morality of illicit markets: “Greasing the wheels” or “greasing the palm”?," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 209(C), pages 411-422.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    free markets; democratic values; fair prices; income inequality; incentives; hostility towards business; Moscow; New York; transition economy;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • P10 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Capitalist Economies - - - General
    • O57 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economywide Country Studies - - - Comparative Studies of Countries

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