An Experimental Test of the Validity of Survey-Measured Political Ideology

Maite D. Laméris, Richard Jong-A-Pin () and Rasmus Wiese

No 7139, CESifo Working Paper Series from CESifo

Abstract: We examine the predictive validity of survey-measured left-right political ideology by testing whether this measure is able to explain observed choices regarding equality versus efficiency. We study this in a real-effort distribution experiment, in which decision-makers allocate money equally or efficiently. We distinguish between decision-makers that receive ‘manna-from-heaven’ and decision-makers that have earned the money to be distributed in a real effort task. We find that, conditional on entitlement concerns, self-reported right-wing ideology significantly predicts preferences for efficiency. Reported left-wing ideology does not have predictive value in explaining preferences for equality.

Keywords: political ideology; survey measurement; predictive validity; distribution experiment; real effort (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C91 D31 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-exp and nep-pol
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Working Paper: An experimental test of the validity of survey-measured political ideology (2018)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ces:ceswps:_7139

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