Does Information about Inequality and Discrimination in Early Child Care Affect Policy Preferences?
Henning Hermes, Philipp Lergetporer, Fabian Mierisch, Guido Schwerdt, Simon Wiederhold
IWH Discussion Papers,
Nr. 2,
2024
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.
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Fiscal Policy under the Eyes of Wary Bondholders
Ruben Staffa, Gregor von Schweinitz
IWH Discussion Papers,
Nr. 26,
2023
Abstract
This paper studies the interaction between fiscal policy and bondholders against the backdrop of high sovereign debt levels. For our analysis, we investigate the case of Italy, a country that has dealt with high public debt levels for a long time, using a Bayesian structural VAR model. We extend a canonical three variable macro mode to include a bond market, consisting of a fiscal rule and a bond demand schedule for long-term government bonds. To identify the model in the presence of political uncertainty and forward-looking investors, we derive an external instrument for bond demand shocks from a novel news ticker data set. Our main results are threefold. First, the interaction between fiscal policy and bondholders’ expectations is critical for the evolution of prices. Fiscal policy reinforces contractionary monetary policy through sustained increases in primary surpluses and investors provide incentives for “passive” fiscal policy. Second, investors’ expectations matter for inflation, and we document a Fisherian response of inflation across all maturities in response to a bond demand shock. Third, domestic politics is critical in the determination of bondholders’ expectations and an increase in the perceived riskiness of sovereign debt increases inflation and thus complicates the task of controlling price growth.
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Finanzstabilität
Finanzsysteme: Die Anatomie der Marktwirtschaft Wie ist das Finanzsystem aufgebaut, wie funktioniert es, wie...
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Postdoctoral Researcher in Financial Economics (f/m/x, 100%) [2023-06]
Vacancy Postdoctoral Researcher in Financial Economics (f/m/x,...
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Postdoctoral Researcher in Productivity Dynamics and Growth (f/m/x, 100%) [2024-06]
Vacancy Postdoctoral Researcher in Productivity Dynamics and...
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Postdoctoral Researcher in Entrepreneurship and Innovation (f/m/x, 100%) [2024-05]
Vacancy Postdoctoral Researcher in Entrepreneurship and...
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Postdoctoral Researcher in Labor Economics (f/m/x, 100%) [2024-04]
Vacancy Postdoctoral Researcher in Labor Economics (f/m/x,...
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Professor in Finance and Labor in conjunction with a position as Senior Research Advisor at the Department of Laws, Regulations and Factor Market
Vacancy Professor in Finance and Labor in conjunction with a...
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Research Profiles of the IWH Departments All doctoral students are allocated to one...
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Wiederhold wp
Does Information about Inequality and Discrimination in Early Child Care Affect Policy Preferences? ...
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