tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1331441403058020963.post4719057939032238282..comments2024-03-28T06:49:24.930-04:00Comments on International Political Economy at the University of North Carolina: Aggregating PreferencesThomas Oatleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14092437150746625670noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1331441403058020963.post-70331092507589834332011-02-12T14:01:16.927-05:002011-02-12T14:01:16.927-05:00Patrick, while I certainly agree with your overall...Patrick, while I certainly agree with your overall point, I found this table to be a bit misleading when it was first printed. For example, in the most extreme cases (basically the top half of the Mettler table) we're talking about tax deductions. Many people do not associate tax deductions with a government spending "program", instead thinking of it as "letting me keep more my own money". I actually agree with that: a spending program is qualitatively different from a tax deduction, and from my experience (who knows if it's representative) the only people who consistently don't are political scientists who focus on American politics.<br /><br />My broader point was really that we shouldn't expect polls to align the way that Krugman, e.g., seems to think they should.Kindred Winecoffhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14330671232391851377noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1331441403058020963.post-58030369152461682202011-02-12T06:55:45.270-05:002011-02-12T06:55:45.270-05:00While I completely agree with your overall point, ...While I completely agree with your overall point, there's certainly a good bit of research that shows that lots of people don't know what they're talking about when it comes to the taxes/cuts question (or certainly that they know less than Adam, Bill, and Chris). <br />Recent evidence: the piece by Suzanne Mettler on public ignorance about state benefits (www.themonkeycage.org/2011/02/the_invisible_american_welfare.html)Patrickhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02794114457247031607noreply@blogger.com