Images say more than just words: visual versus text communication to dispel a rent-control misconception

Jordi Brandts (), Isabel Busom, Cristina Lopez-Mayan and Judith Panadés
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Jordi Brandts: Instituto de Análisis Económico (CSIC) and Barcelona School of Economics
Isabel Busom: Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
Judith Panadés: Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona and Barcelona School of Economics

Experimental Economics, 2024, vol. 27, issue 2, No 6, 417-468

Abstract: Abstract The highly popular belief that rent-control leads to an increase in the amount of affordable housing is in contradiction with ample empirical evidence and congruent theoretical explanations. It can therefore be qualified as a misconception. We present the results of a preregistered on-line experiment in which we study how to dispel this misconception using a refutational approach in two different formats, a video and a text. We find that the refutational video has a significantly higher positive impact on revising the misconception than a refutational text. This effect is driven by individuals who initially agreed with it and depart from it after the treatment. The refutational text, in turn, does not have a significant impact relative to a non-refutational text. Higher cognitive reflective ability is positively associated with revising beliefs in all interventions. Our research shows that visual communication effectively reduces the gap between scientific economic knowledge and the views of citizens.

Keywords: Misconceptions; Policy beliefs; Communication; Refutation; Online experiments (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: A1 A2 C9 D83 D9 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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DOI: 10.1007/s10683-023-09817-7

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