Year: 2004
Type: report
Study design: Observational Study
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.
DOI: 10.3386/w10787
Authors: Alan Blinder, Alan Krueger
Institutions: National Bureau of Economic Research, Princeton University
Language: English
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W3123489170