Beliefs About Public Debt and the Demand for Government Spending

Publikation: Working paperForskning

Standard

Beliefs About Public Debt and the Demand for Government Spending. / Roth, Christopher; Settele, Sonja; Wohlfart, Johannes.

2020.

Publikation: Working paperForskning

Harvard

Roth, C, Settele, S & Wohlfart, J 2020 'Beliefs About Public Debt and the Demand for Government Spending'. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3528060

APA

Roth, C., Settele, S., & Wohlfart, J. (2020). Beliefs About Public Debt and the Demand for Government Spending. CEBI Working Paper Series Nr. 05/20 https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3528060

Vancouver

Roth C, Settele S, Wohlfart J. Beliefs About Public Debt and the Demand for Government Spending. 2020 feb. 26. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3528060

Author

Roth, Christopher ; Settele, Sonja ; Wohlfart, Johannes. / Beliefs About Public Debt and the Demand for Government Spending. 2020. (CEBI Working Paper Series; Nr. 05/20).

Bibtex

@techreport{41ec251cafe14274a199cd77e8cb0dc7,
title = "Beliefs About Public Debt and the Demand for Government Spending",
abstract = "We examine how beliefs about the debt-to-GDP ratio affect people's attitudes towards government spending and taxation. Using representative samples of the US population, we run a series of experiments in which we provide half of our respondents with information about the debt-to-GDP ratio in the US. Based on a total of more than 4,000 respondents, we find that most people underestimate the debt-to-GDP ratio and reduce their support for government spending once they learn about the actual amount of debt, but do not substantially alter their attitudes towards taxation. The treatment effects seem to operate through changes in expectations about fiscal sustainability and persist in a four-week follow-up.",
keywords = "Government Debt, Political Attitudes, Beliefs, Expectations, Information",
author = "Christopher Roth and Sonja Settele and Johannes Wohlfart",
year = "2020",
month = feb,
day = "26",
doi = "10.2139/ssrn.3528060",
language = "English",
series = "CEBI Working Paper Series",
number = "05/20",
type = "WorkingPaper",

}

RIS

TY - UNPB

T1 - Beliefs About Public Debt and the Demand for Government Spending

AU - Roth, Christopher

AU - Settele, Sonja

AU - Wohlfart, Johannes

PY - 2020/2/26

Y1 - 2020/2/26

N2 - We examine how beliefs about the debt-to-GDP ratio affect people's attitudes towards government spending and taxation. Using representative samples of the US population, we run a series of experiments in which we provide half of our respondents with information about the debt-to-GDP ratio in the US. Based on a total of more than 4,000 respondents, we find that most people underestimate the debt-to-GDP ratio and reduce their support for government spending once they learn about the actual amount of debt, but do not substantially alter their attitudes towards taxation. The treatment effects seem to operate through changes in expectations about fiscal sustainability and persist in a four-week follow-up.

AB - We examine how beliefs about the debt-to-GDP ratio affect people's attitudes towards government spending and taxation. Using representative samples of the US population, we run a series of experiments in which we provide half of our respondents with information about the debt-to-GDP ratio in the US. Based on a total of more than 4,000 respondents, we find that most people underestimate the debt-to-GDP ratio and reduce their support for government spending once they learn about the actual amount of debt, but do not substantially alter their attitudes towards taxation. The treatment effects seem to operate through changes in expectations about fiscal sustainability and persist in a four-week follow-up.

KW - Government Debt

KW - Political Attitudes

KW - Beliefs

KW - Expectations

KW - Information

U2 - 10.2139/ssrn.3528060

DO - 10.2139/ssrn.3528060

M3 - Working paper

T3 - CEBI Working Paper Series

BT - Beliefs About Public Debt and the Demand for Government Spending

ER -

ID: 248762880