Paul Lendway: “The Effect of Informational and Empathy-Enhancing Interventions on Redistributive Preferences”

Paul Lendway
February 4, 2021

Graduate student Paul Lendway has an article in the Yale Journal of International Affairs entitled “The Effect of Informational and Empathy-Enhancing Interventions on Redistributive Preferences.”

Abstract:

“Expanding redistributive programs in democracies could improve the living standards for millions of people across the world. Using a national survey experiment consisting of rural white Republicans – a group that tends to oppose expanding redistributive programs – this study shows that informational and empathy-enhancing interventions are effective at increasing support for expanding Medicaid and Medicare benefits in the United States. This suggests that informational and empathy-enhancing interventions may be similarly effective among groups and parties in other countries that also tend to be anti-redistributionist, such as supporters of the Alternative für Deutschland Party, the Swiss People’s Party, and the UK Independence Party.”