Freedom counts: Cross-country empirical evidence
Year: 2025
Type: article
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: We investigate whether people attach intrinsic value to freedom and which theoretical rules they implicitly employ to evaluate opportunity sets. To do this, we run a new survey-based study with 4902 participants across 10 different countries. Participants face various comparisons of opportunity sets in a policy-relevant context in a “spectator” position. Our main result is that an overwhelming majority of spectators reveal that they attach intrinsic value to freedom. We also find that a large majority of participants use size-based rules to rank sets in terms of freedom, while there is considerable heterogeneity in the theoretical rules they implicitly employ to rank sets in terms of welfare. These results are strikingly robust across countries.
Source: European Economic Review
Institutions: University of Southampton, University of Limassol, The University of Osaka, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Université de Lille, Institut d'Economie Scientifique Et de Gestion, Lille Économie Management, KU Leuven, Université Lumière Lyon 2, Groupe d'Analyse et de Théorie Economique Lyon St Etienne, Université Jean Monnet, École de management de Lyon, Université Jean Monnet
Language: English
Subfield: General Decision Sciences
Field: Decision Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
Estimated APC paid: $3,690
Awards: G2588459811, Economic stagnation and widening wealth inequality: Crises of the world economy and a construction of a unified macroeconomic theory, Assessing the value of freedom: an experimental approach, G5420063140, Experimental and behavioral analyses for reconsideration of macroeconomic theory, G8844473597
OpenAlex ID: W4399512117