Title

What Does the Public Know about Economic Policy, and How Does It Know It?

Author(s)

Alan S. Blinder Alan Blinder (Princeton University and NBER)

Alan B. Krueger Alan Krueger (Princeton University and NBER)

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.

Creation Date

2004-09

Section URL ID

IRS

Paper Number

496

URL

https://dataspace.princeton.edu/bitstream/88435/dsp01j3860693b/1/496.pdf

File Function

Jel

D12, D72, E60

Keyword(s)

opinion, policy, influence, politicians

Suppress

false

Series

1