Working Paper: CEPR ID: DP11106
Authors: Leonardo Bursztyn; Michael Callen; Bruno Ferman; Saad Gulzar; Ali Hasanain; Noam Yuchtman
Abstract: Identifying the role of intrinsic, ideological motivation in political behavior is confounded by agents' consequential aims and social concerns. We present results from two experiments that implement a methodology isolating Pakistani men's intrinsic motives for expressing anti-American ideology, in a context with clearly-specified financial costs, but minimal consequential or social considerations. Over one-quarter of subjects forgo around one-fifth of a day's wage to avoid anonymously checking a box indicating gratitude toward the U.S. government, thus revealing anti-Americanism. We find that ideological expression responds to financial and social incentives, and that measured ideology predicts membership in a major anti-American political party.
Keywords: ideology; political expression; political participation; revealed preference measurement
JEL Codes: C90; D03; P16
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| rejection of US government bonus payment (H81) | membership in Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party (D71) |
| intrinsic anti-American ideology (F52) | willingness to forgo 100 PKR payment (D11) |
| social visibility (Z13) | rejection rate of payment (G35) |
| financial cost of expressing views (G32) | willingness to express anti-American ideology (F52) |