Egoistic and Sociotropic Policy Preferences
Type
conference paper
Date Issued
2016-12
Author(s)
Research Team
Forschungsgruppe Bechtel
Abstract
The economic consequences of policies help explain why individuals support some reforms while they oppose others. Previous work suggests that these preferences have both egoistic and sociotropic roots. However, the relative importance of these two types of concerns as well as their origins remain poorly understood. We explore how the multidimensional income effects of a policy cause shifts in public support and why. Our experimental design cleanly distinguishes between the effects on one’s own income, on the national average, as well as on individuals belonging to different income brackets. This allows us to disentangle self-interest as opposed to sociotropic motivations for policy support. Our results based on a representative sample of U.S. citizens suggest that both, personal as well as national- level income changes matter, although voters are about two to three times more sensitive to personal income changes. Yet, the economic impact of a policy on the distribution of wealth within a society continues to matter and these effects likely reflect pro-social concerns about the welfare of those that are worst off.
Language
English
HSG Classification
contribution to scientific community
HSG Profile Area
None
Event Title
Inequality and Fairness of Political Reforms
Event Location
Mannheim
Event Date
08.-09.12.2016
Subject(s)
Division(s)
Contact Email Address
roman.liesch@unisg.ch
Eprints ID
249892
File(s)![Thumbnail Image]()
Name
Presentation_Liesch_Bechtel_Mannheim.pdf
Size
633.07 KB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
0227d19068537952e0f92080d3bfb036