Abstract
P>Empirical studies often derive that personal attitudes toward policy measures are dominated by ideology instead of narrow self-interest. In the present field study we carried out a telephone survey with 1,003 respondents all over Austria. Instead of measuring selfishness indirectly by using more or less 'objective indicators' for self-interest, we requested that respondents directly assess whether they expect to be affected by policy measures. Our results indicate that subjectively measured self-interest explains attitudes toward economic policies at least as well as ideological conviction. In some cases ideology appears to determine whether people feel affected by a proposed policy measure. This supports the notion of a co-incidence of self-interest and moral arguments in low cost decisions.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 271-290 |
Number of pages | 20 |
Journal | Kyklos |
Volume | 64 |
Issue number | 2 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - May 2011 |