Beliefs About Racial Discrimination and Support for Pro-Black Policies

Ingar Haaland and Christopher Roth

No 2/2019, Discussion Paper Series in Economics from Norwegian School of Economics, Department of Economics

Abstract: We examine whether beliefs about racial discrimination causally affect support for pro-black policies. Using representative samples of Americans, we elicit quantitative and incentivized beliefs about the extent of labor market discrimination against blacks. 55 percent overestimate the extent of discrimination against blacks, and Republicans are 19 percentage points less likely than Democrats to overestimate discrimination. An information treatment substantially narrows Republican–Democrat differences in beliefs, but fails to narrow differences in political behavior. Overall, the results demonstrate that correcting biases in beliefs about the extent of racial discrimination is not sufficient to reduce political polarization in support for pro-black policies.

Keywords: Racial discrimination; Beliefs; Pro-black Policies; Policy Preferences (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C91 D83 J15 J71 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 101 pages
Date: 2019-02-05
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-lab
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (18)

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Related works:
Journal Article: Beliefs about Racial Discrimination and Support for Pro-Black Policies (2023)
Working Paper: Beliefs About Racial Discrimination and Support for Pro-Black Policies (2021)
Working Paper: Beliefs about racial discrimination and support for pro-black policies (2021)
Working Paper: Beliefs about Racial Discrimination and Support for Pro-Black Policies (2019)
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