The Value of Income, Safety and Elections across the World

Alicia Adsera (), Andreu Arenas () and Carles Boix ()
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Alicia Adsera: Princeton University
Andreu Arenas: University of Barcelona
Carles Boix: Princeton University

No 18844, IZA Discussion Papers from IZA Network @ LISER

Abstract: We examine how individuals value political and economic goods and institutions through a conjoint experiment in eight countries: Argentina, urban China, India, Mexico, the Philippines, Singapore, South Africa, and the United States. Respondents choose between societies that randomly vary in personal and country income, inequality, social mobility, safety, public healthcare, and free elections. We estimate marginal effects and willingness to pay for outcomes at the country and respondent levels. Valuations of personal and country incomes and safety are similar across countries. By contrast, the value of democracy, defined as free elections, varies substantially. The average Chinese respondent is willing to give up democracy for an increase in individual income equal to one quarter of average country income, whereas the average American would do so only for twice the U.S. average country income. Unlike income and safety, for which most individual-level variation is explained by personal characteristics, variation in preferences for free elections is substantially explained by respondents’ country. Our findings contribute to research on human preferences, demand for democratic institutions, and policy and redistributive preferences.

Keywords: democracy; safety; willingness to pay; conjoint experiment; income (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: H11 H51 I13 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026-07
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