How do voters form positive economic beliefs? Evidence from the survey of Americans and economists on the economy

Public Choice

Volumn 128, Issue 3-4, 2006, Pages 367-381

  Caplan, Bryan ^a  

^a GEORGE MASON UNIVERSITY   (United States)

Author keywords

Economic beliefs; Sociotropic voting; Voter cognition

Indexed keywords

EID: 33748522772     PISSN: 00485829     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1007/s11127-006-9026-z     Document Type: Article

References (29)

1. Blendon, R., Benson, J., Brodie, M., Morin, R., Altman, D., Gitterman, D., Brossard, M., & James, M. (1997). Bridging the gap between the public's and economists' views of the economy. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 11, 105-188.
2. Caplan, B. (2002a). Sociotropes, systematic bias, and political failure: reflections on the Survey of Americans and Economists on the Economy. Social Science Quarterly, 83, 416-435.
3. Caplan, B. (2002b). Systematically biased beliefs about economics: robust evidence of content-dependent judgmental anomalies from the Survey of Americans and Economists on the Economy. Economic Journal, 112, 1-26.
4. Caplan, B. (2001). What makes people think like economists'? Evidence from the Survey of Americans and Economists on the Economy. Journal of Law and Economics, 44, 395-426.
5. Citrin, J., & Green., D. (1990). The self-interest motive in American public opinion. In S. Long (ed.). Research in Micropolitics, 3, 1-28.
6. Conover, P.J., Feldman, S., & Knight, K. (1987). The personal and political underpinnings of economic forecasts. American Journal of Political Science, 31, 559-583.
7. Conover, P.J., & Feldman, S. (1986). Emotional reactions to the economy: I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore. American Journal of Political Science, 30, 50-78.
8. Dahl, G., & Ransom, M. (1999). Does where you stand depend on where you sit? American Economic Review, 89, 703-727.
9. Haller, H.B., & Norpoth, H., (1994). Let the good times roll: the economic expectations of U.S. voters. American Journal of Political Science, 38, 625-650.
10. Holbrook, T., & Garand, J. (1996). Homo economus? Economic information and economic voting. Political Research Quarterly, 49, 351-375.
11. Jennings, D., Amabile, T., & Ross, L. (1982). "Informal covariational assessment: data-based versus theory-based judgment." In Kahneman, D., Slovic, P., Tversky, A., (eds.) Judgment Under Uncertainty: Heuristics and Biases (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press), pp. 211-230.
12. Kenny, L. (1982). Economies of scale in schooling. Economics of Education Review, (2), 1-24.
13. Kinder, D., Adams, G., & Gronke, P. (1989). Economics and politics in the 1984 American presidential election. American Journal of Political Science, 33, 4912-515.
14. Kinder, D., & Mebane, W. (1983). "Politics and economics in everyday life." In Monroe, K., (ed.). The Political Process and Economic Change (NY: Agathon Press), 141-180.
15. Krause, G. (1997). Voters, information heterogeneity, and the dynamics of aggregate economic expectations. American Journal of Political Science, 41, 1170-1200.
16. Lau, R., & Sears, D. (1984) "Social and political cognition: the past, the present, and the future." In Lau, R., and Sears, D. (eds.), Political Cognition, (Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erbaum Associates), pp. 347-366.
17. Lupia, A., & McCubbins, M. (1998). The Democratic Dilemma: Can Citizens Learn What They Need to Know?, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).
18. McClosky, H., & Zaller, J. (1984). The American Ethos: Public Attitudes Towards Capitalism and Democracy, (Cambridge: Harvard University Press).
19. MacKuen, M., Erikson, R., & Stimson, J. (1992) Peasants or bankers? The American electorate and the U.S. economy. American Political Science Review, 86, 597-611.
20. Maddala, G.S. (1977). Econometrics, (NY: McGraw-Hill).
21. Markus, G. (1988). The impact of personal and national economic conditions on the presidential vote: a pooled cross-sectional analysis. American Journal of Political Science, 32, 137-154.
22. Mutz, D., & Mondak, J. (1997). Dimensions of sociotropic behavior: group-based judgments of fairness and well-being. American Journal of Political Science, 41, 284-308.
23. Mutz, D. (1993). Direct and indirect routes to politicizing personal experience: does knowledge make a difference? Public Opinion Quarterly, 57, 483-502.
24. Popkin, S. (1991). The Reasoning Voter: Communication and Persuasion in Presidential Campaigns. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press).
25. Rabin, M. (1995). "Moral preferences, Moral constraints, and Self-Serving Biases." Unpub. ms., UC Berkeley.
26. Sears, D., & Funk, C. (1990). "Self-interest in Americans' political opinions." In Mansbridge, J., (ed.), Beyond Self-Interest, (Chicago: University of Chicago Press), pp. 147-170.
27. Survey of Americans and Economists on the Economy (1996). The Washington Post, Kaiser Family Foundation and Harvard University, October 16, #1199. Webbed version at: http://www.kff.org/kaiserpolls/1199-econgen.cfm.
28. Walstad, W. (1997). The effect of economic knowledge on public opinion of economic issues. Journal of Economic Education, 28, 195-205.
29. Wright, G, Erikson, R., & McIver, J. ( 1987). Public opinion and policy liberalism in the UnitedStates. American Journal of Political Science, 31, 980-1001.