What Does the Public Know about Economic Policy, and How Does It Know It? / Alan S. Blinder, Alan B. Krueger.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Blinder, Alan S.

Contributor:

National Bureau of Economic Research.

Krueger, Alan B.

Series:

Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research) no. w10787.

NBER working paper series no. w10787

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource: illustrations (black and white);

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 2004.

Summary:

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.

Notes:

Print version record

September 2004.