Working Paper: CEPR ID: DP14348
Authors: Stefanie Stantcheva; Alberto F. Alesina; Armando Miano
Abstract: Americans are polarized not only in their views on policy issues and attitudes towards government and society, but also in their perceptions of the same factual reality. We conceptualize how to think about the ``polarization of reality’’ and review recent papers that show that Republicans and Democrats view the same reality through a different lens. Perhaps as a result, they hold different views about policies and what should be done to address economic and social issues. We also show that providing information leads to different reassessments of reality and different responses along the policy support margin, depending on one's political leaning.
Keywords: perceptions; redistribution; political views; beliefs; wealth; taxation
JEL Codes: No JEL codes provided
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| Political affiliation (D72) | Perceptions of economic indicators (E66) |
| Perceptions of economic indicators (E66) | Political affiliation (D72) |
| Perceptions about immigration (K37) | Policy preferences (D72) |
| Political orientation (P26) | Perceptions about immigration (K37) |
| Information exposure (D80) | Perceptions of economic indicators (E66) |
| Information exposure (D80) | Policy support (L53) |
| Pessimistic information about social mobility (J62) | Support for redistribution (D39) |
| Perceptions of social mobility (J62) | Political orientation (P26) |