Does information about inequality and discrimination in early child care affect policy preferences?

Arbeitspapier

We investigate public preferences for equity-enhancing policies in access to early child care, using a survey experiment with a representative sample of the German population (n ≈ 4, 800). We observe strong misperceptions about migrant-native inequalities in early child care that vary by respondents' age and right-wing voting preferences. Randomly providing information about the actual extent of inequalities has a nuanced impact on the support for equity-enhancing policy reforms: it increases support for respondents who initially underestimated these inequalities, and tends to decrease support for those who initially overestimated them. This asymmetric effect leads to a more consensual policy view, substantially decreasing the polarization in policy support between under- and overestimators. Our results suggest that correcting misperceptions can align public policy preferences, potentially leading to less polarized debates about how to address inequalities and discrimination.

Object Details

• ISBN: 978-3-86304-410-7
• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: DICE Discussion Paper ; No. 411

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Education and Inequality ; Demographic Economics: Public Policy ; Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth ; Search; Learning; Information and Knowledge; Communication; Belief; Unawareness ; Design of Experiments: Other
• Subject: child care ; policy support ; information ; inequality ; discrimination ; survey experiment

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Hermes, Henning ; Lergetporer, Philipp ; Mierisch, Fabian ; Schwerdt, Guido ; Wiederhold, Simon
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf Institute for Competition Economics (DICE)
• (where): Düsseldorf
• (when): 2024

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/281996
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:44 AM CET