Working Paper: CEPR ID: DP17088
Authors: Romain Duval; Yi Ji; Chris Papageorgiou; Ippei Shibata; Antonio Spilimbergo
Abstract: Are preferences for reforms driven by individuals’ own endowments or beliefs? To address this question, we conducted a cross-country survey on people’s opinions on employment protection legislation—an area where reform has proven to be difficult and personal interests are at stake. We find that individuals’ beliefs matter more than their own endowments and personal pay-offs. A randomized information treatment confirms that beliefs explain views about reform, but beliefs can change with new information. Our results are robust to several robustness tests, including to alternative estimation techniques and samples.
Keywords: political opinions; preferences; political economy; regulation; employment protection; beliefs; ideology; surveys
JEL Codes: D70; D72; J08; J65
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| societal concerns (P36) | opposition to EPL deregulation (L51) |
| individuals’ beliefs (D80) | opinions about EPL deregulation (L51) |
| individuals’ endowments (D29) | opinions about EPL deregulation (L51) |
| beliefs about effects of regulation on economy (L51) | opinions about EPL deregulation (L51) |
| randomized information treatment (C90) | support for EPL deregulation (L51) |