What does the public know about economic policy, and how does it know it?

Description

"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"--National Bureau of Economic Research web site.

Subjects

Series Statement

• NBER working paper series ;
• working paper 10787
• Working paper series (National Bureau of Economic Research : Online) ;
• working paper no. 10787.

Links

• http://papers.nber.org/papers/W10787
• URL

Other Editions

• What does the public know about economic policy, and how does it know it?Electronic resourceNational Bureau of Economic Research2004-01-01
• What does the public know about economic policy, and how does it know it?Electronic resourceIZA2004-01-01