Positive versus normative economics: What's the connection? Evidence from the Survey of Americans and Economists on the Economy and the General Social Survey

Public Choice

Volumn 150, Issue 1-2, 2012, Pages 241-261

  Caplan, Bryan ^a   Miller, Stephen C ^b  

^a GEORGE MASON UNIVERSITY   (United States)

^b WESTERN CAROLINA UNIVERSITY   (United States)

Author keywords

Economic beliefs; Normative economics; Positive economics

Indexed keywords

EID: 82755171216     PISSN: 00485829     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1007/s11127-010-9700-z     Document Type: Article

References (35)

1. Alston, R., Kearl, J., & Vaughan, M. (1992). Is there a consensus among economists in the 1990's? American Economic Review, 82(2), 203-209.
2. 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(3), 105-188.
3. Blinder, A., & Krueger, A. (2004). What does the public know about economic policy, and how does It know it? Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, 1, 327-387.
4. Caplan, B. (2001). What makes people think like economists? Evidence on economic cognition from the Survey of Americans and Economists on the Economy. Journal of Law and Economics, 44(2), 395-426.
5. Caplan, B. (2002a). Systematically biased beliefs about economics: robust evidence of judgemental anomalies from the Survey of Americans and Economists on the Economy. Economic Journal, 112(479), 433-458.
6. Caplan, B. (2002b). Sociotropes, systematic bias, and political failure: reflections on the Survey of Americans and Economists on the Economy. Social Science Quarterly, 83(2), 416-435.
7. Caplan, B. (2006). How do voters form positive economic beliefs? Evidence from the Survey of Americans and Economists on the Economy. Public Choice, 128(3/4), 367-381.
8. Caplan, B. (2007). The myth of the rational voter: why democracies choose bad policies. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
9. Caplan, B., & Miller, S. (2010). Economic beliefs, intelligence, and ability bias: evidence from the General Social Survey. Unpub ms. http://www. gmu. edu/departments/economics/bcaplan/iqbeliefej. doc.
10. Citrin, J., & Green, D. (1990). The self-interest motive in American public opinion. Research in Micropolitics, 3, 1-28.
11. Cooper, J. (2007). Cognitive dissonance: 50 years of a classic theory. Sage Publications: London.
12. Cowen, T. (2005). Self-deception as the root of political failure. Public Choice, 124(3-4), 437-451.
13. Friedman, M. (1953). The methodology of positive economics. In M. Friedman (Ed.), Essays in positive economics (pp. 3-43). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
14. Foss, D. (1982). A discourse on semantic priming. Cognitive Psychology, 14, 590-607.
15. Fuller, D., & Geide-Stevenson, D. (2003). Consensus among economists: revisited. Journal of Economic Education, 34(4), 369-387.
16. Fuchs, V. (1996). Economics, values, and health care reform. American Economic Review, 86(1), 1-24.
17. Fuchs, V., Krueger, A., & Poterba, J. (1998). Economists' views about parameters, values, and policies: survey results in labor and public economics. Journal of Economic Literature, 36(3), 1387-1425.
18. General Social Survey (2008). http://www. norc. org/GSS+Website/.
19. Glaeser, E., & Sunstein, C. (2009). Extremism and social learning. Journal of Legal Analysis, 1, 263-324.
20. Goodman, N. (1960). The way the world is. Review of Metaphysics, 14(1), 48-56.
21. Hainmueller, J., & Hiscox, M. (2007). Educated preferences: explaining attitudes toward immigration in Europe. International Organization, 61, 399-442.
22. Harsanyi, J. (1969). Rational-choice models of political behavior vs. functionalist and conformist theories. World Politics, 21(4), 513-538.
23. Howson, C., & Urbach, P. (1989). Scientific reasoning: the Bayesian approach. LaSalle: Open Court.
24. Krosnick, J., & Alwin, D. (1987). An evaluation of a cognitive theory of response-order effects in survey measurement. Public Opinion Quarterly, 51, 201-219.
25. Maddala, G. S. (1977). Econometrics. New York: McGraw-Hill.
26. Mansbridge, J. (Ed.) (1990). Beyond self-interest. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
27. Miller, S. (2009). Economic bias and ideology: evidence from the General Social Survey. Journal of Private Enterprise, 25(1), 31-49.
28. Rawls, J. (1971). A theory of justice. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
29. Ricketts, M., & Shoesmith, E. (1992). British economic opinion: positive science or normative judgment? American Economic Review, 82(2), 210-215.
30. Sears, D., & Funk, C. (1990). Self-interest in Americans' political opinions. In J. Mansbridge (Ed.), Beyond self-interest (pp. 147-170). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
31. Sears, D., Lau, R., Tyler, T., & Allen, H. (1980). Self-interest vs. symbolic politics in policy attitudes and Presidential voting. American Political Science Review, 74(3), 670-684.
32. Taber, C., & Lodge, M. (2006). Motivated skepticism in the evaluation of political beliefs. American Journal of Political Science, 50(3), 755-769.
33. Tetlock, P. (2003). Thinking the unthinkable: sacred values and taboo cognitions. Trends in Cognitive Science, 7(7), 320-324.
34. Washington Post, Kaiser Family Foundation, Harvard University Survey Project (1996). Survey of Americans and Economists on the Economy. October 16, #1199. http://www. kff. org/kaiserpolls/1199-econgen. cfm.
35. Whaples, R. (2006). Do economists agree on anything? Yes! The Economists' Voice, 3(9). http://www. bepress. com/ev/vol3/iss9/art1.