SOME LIKE IT HOT: INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES IN RESPONSES TO GROUP FEELING THERMOMETERS

In this paper we explore the nature and causes of individualdifferences in the use of feeling thermometer items to evaluatesocial groups. Some respondents have a general tendency to assignhigher overall temperature readings and some tend to use a widerrange of the temperature scale. These tendencies are partiallyunderstandable in terms of the respondent's evaluations of socialgroups, but other important predictors are identified. Methodsof adjusting feeling thermometer scores to account for individualdifferences are explored, using data from the 1984 AmericanNational Election Study. The conclusion is that some sort ofadjustment is probably useful for those studying supportersof conservative groups, though such a procedure may not be neededfor those who focus on liberal groups.     

AUTOMOBILE FUEL EFFICIENCY: MEASUREMENT AND EXPLANATION

This paper extends the hedonic technique of adjusting for quality change to a new area: the construction of a quality-adjusted automobile fuel efficiency index. This index, which holds constant a wide range of characteristics that affect observed fuel economy, rises by over 20 percent from 1949 until the late 1960s. The advent of increasingly stringent antipollution regulations coincides with its decline through the mid-1970s. Thereafter, the constant-quality index rises sharply. This paper will demonstrate that the fall and rise over the last decade coincide with the reductions in allowable automobile exhaust emissions and the rising relative price of petroleum, respectively.     

BELIEVING IN ECONOMIC THEORIES: SEX, LIES, EVIDENCE, TRUST, AND IDEOLOGY

Political economics views heterogeneity of political preferences largely as a reflection of heterogeneity in valuations of known policy outcomes. Voters, however, may be uncertain about policy outcomes, in part, because of uncertainty about how the economic world actually works. Heterogeneity of people's beliefs about how well economic theories predict outcomes could then affect policy through democratic institutions. Using a combination of experimental and survey techniques drawn from economics and social and political psychology, we examine several potential sources of heterogeneity in beliefs about the predictive content of supply and demand theory, with a particular focus on the role of ideology. ( JEL A110, A130, C420, C900)