Does Information about Inequality and Discrimination in Early Child Care Affect Policy Preferences?

Henning Hermes, Philipp Lergetporer, Fabian Mierisch, Guido Schwerdt and Simon Wiederhold ()
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Fabian Mierisch: Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt

No 16759, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: We investigate public preferences for equity-enhancing policies in access to early child care, using a survey experiment with a representative sample of the German population (n ≈ 4, 800). We observe strong misperceptions about migrant-native inequalities in early child care that vary by respondents' age and right-wing voting preferences. Randomly providing information about the actual extent of inequalities has a nuanced impact on the support for equity-enhancing policy reforms: it increases support for respondents who initially underestimated these inequalities, and tends to decrease support for those who initially overestimated them. This asymmetric effect leads to a more consensual policy view, substantially decreasing the polarization in policy support between under- and overestimators. Our results suggest that correcting misperceptions can align public policy preferences, potentially leading to less polarized debates about how to address inequalities and discrimination.

Keywords: discrimination; inequality; information; policy support; child care; survey experiment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C99 D83 I24 J13 J18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 59 pages
Date: 2024-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-exp
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Published - published in: Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 2024, 228, 106780, 2024

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Related works:
Working Paper: Does Information about Inequality and Discrimination in Early Child Care Affect Policy Preferences? (2024)
Working Paper: Does Information about Inequality and Discrimination in Early Child Care Affect Policy Preferences? (2024)
Working Paper: Does Information about Inequality and Discrimination in Early Child Care Affect Policy Preferences? (2024)
Working Paper: Does information about inequality and discrimination in early child care affect policy preferences? (2024)
Working Paper: Does information about inequality and discrimination in early child care affect policy preferences? (2024)
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