Collective action problems: Disentangling possible feedback loops between government policies and the public’s value-change

European Journal of Government and Economics

Eivind Hoff-Elimari¹  Kristina Östman²  Simon Matti³  Anat Bardi⁴ 

[1] Common Cause Network;KTH Royal Institute of Technology;Luleå University of Technology;Royal Holloway University of London;

关键词: Values;    policy feedback;    democracy;   

DOI  :  10.17979/ejge.2014.3.1.4295

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

Solving collective action problems, such as poverty reduction or climate change, depends on interactions between governments' and voters' preferences regarding pro-social actions. This paper examines whether the overall direction of change in pro-social public policy precedes public value-change, rather than the other way around. We examine change in the public’s pro-social values in six European countries, as measured by the European Social Survey (ESS) during 2002-2012. In these countries, we conducted an expert survey to rate governmental policy that expresses these values over the same period, thereby examining value-change in governmental policy. The chronological comparison of value-change of the public with that of respective governments suggests that changes in pro-social government policies may drive public value-change rather than vice versa. This complements previous studies focused on the opinion-policy connection. Possible political implications are discussed. The promising findings of this initial study point to the importance of conducting larger-scale future studies.

【 授权许可】

Unknown