Egoistic and Sociotropic Policy Preferences

The economic consequences of policies help explain why individuals support some reforms while they oppose others. Previous work suggests that these preferences have both egoistic and sociotropic roots. However, the relative importance of these two types of concerns as well as their origins remain poorly understood. We explore how the multidimensional income effects of a policy cause shifts in public support and why. Our experimental design cleanly distinguishes between the effects on one’s own income, on the national average, as well as on individuals belonging to different income brackets. This allows us to disentangle self-interest as opposed to sociotropic motivations for policy support. Our results based on a representative sample of U.S. citizens suggest that both, personal as well as national- level income changes matter, although voters are about two to three times more sensitive to personal income changes. Yet, the economic impact of a policy on the distribution of wealth within a society continues to matter and these effects likely reflect pro-social concerns about the welfare of those that are worst off.