Do party positions affect the public's policy preferences?

Arbeitspapier

The standard assumption of exogenous policy preferences implies that parties set their positions according to their voters' preferences. We investigate the reverse effect: Are the electorates' policy preferences responsive to party positions? In a representative German survey, we inform randomized treatment groups about the positions of political parties on two family policies, child care subsidy and universal student aid. In both experiments, results show that the treatment aligns the preferences of specific partisan groups with their preferred party's position on the policy under consideration, implying endogeneity of policy preferences. The information treatment also affects non-partisan swing voters.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: Discussion Paper ; No. 149

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Political Processes: Rent-seeking, Lobbying, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior ; Search; Learning; Information and Knowledge; Communication; Belief; Unawareness ; National Government Expenditures and Education ; Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth ; Education: Government Policy ; Capitalist Systems: Political Economy
• Subject: political parties ; partisanship ; survey experiment ; information ; endogenous preferences ; voters ; family policy

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Grewenig, Elisabeth ; Lergetporer, Philipp ; Werner, Katharina ; Woessmann, Ludger
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München und Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Collaborative Research Center Transregio 190 - Rationality and Competition
• (where): München und Berlin
• (when): 2019

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/208049
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:41 AM CET