How information affects support for education spending: Evidence from survey experiments in Germany and the United States

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Lergetporer, Philipp; Schwerdt, Guido; Werner, Katharina; West, Martin R.; Woessmann, Ludger
• 署名单位: Leibniz Association; Ifo Institut; University of Munich; IZA Institute Labor Economics; University of Konstanz; Leibniz Association; Ifo Institut; University of Munich; Leibniz Association; Ifo Institut; National Bureau of Economic Research; Harvard University; IZA Institute Labor Economics; University of Munich; Leibniz Association; Ifo Institut
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF PUBLIC ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0047-2727
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jpubeco.2018.09.011
• 发表日期: 2018
• 页码: 138-157
• 关键词: Policy preferences; Cross-country comparison; Germany; United States; Education spending; INFORMATION; Survey experiments

摘要

To study whether current spending levels and public knowledge of them contribute to transatlantic differences in policy preferences, we implement parallel survey experiments in Germany and the United States. In both countries, support for increased education spending and teacher salaries falls when respondents receive information about existing levels. Treatment effects vary by prior knowledge in a manner consistent with information effects rather than priming. Support for salary increases is inversely related to salary levels across American states, suggesting that higher salaries could explain much of Germans' lower support for increases. Information about the tradeoffs between specific spending categories shifts preferences from class-size reduction towards alternative purposes. Additional German experiments indicate that information effects extend to specific reform proposals and to other areas of public spending. (C) 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.