What Does the Public Know About Economic Policy, and How Does it Know it?

62 Pages Posted: 2 Oct 2004

See all articles by Alan S. Blinder

Alan S. Blinder

Princeton University - Department of Economics; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

Alan B. Krueger

Princeton University - Industrial Relations Section; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER); IZA Institute of Labor Economics

Multiple version iconThere are 2 versions of this paper

Date Written: September 2004

Abstract

Public opinion influences politicians, and therefore influences public policy decisions. What are the roles of self-interest, knowledge, and ideology in public opinion formation? And how do people learn about economic issues? Using a new, specially-designed survey, we find that most respondents express a strong desire to be well informed on economic policy issues, and that television is their dominant source of information. On a variety of major policy issues (e.g., taxes, social security, health insurance), ideology is the most important determinant of public opinion, while measures of self-interest are the least important. Knowledge about the economy ranks somewhere in between.

Keywords: ideology, public opinion, knowledge

JEL Classification: D70, E60

Suggested Citation

Blinder, Alan S. and Krueger, Alan B., What Does the Public Know About Economic Policy, and How Does it Know it? (September 2004). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=598227 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.598227

Alan S. Blinder

Princeton University - Department of Economics ( email )

Princeton, NJ 08544-1021
United States

National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

1050 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02138
United States

Alan B. Krueger (Contact Author)

Princeton University - Industrial Relations Section ( email )

Princeton, NJ 08544-2098
United States
609-258-4046 (Phone)
609-258-2907 (Fax)

National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

1050 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02138
United States

IZA Institute of Labor Economics

P.O. Box 7240
Bonn, D-53072
Germany

Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?

Paper statistics

Downloads
249
Abstract Views
2,147
Rank
147,090
PlumX Metrics