Citation

Bursztyn L, Egorov G, Fiorin S. Am. Econ. Rev. 2020; 110(11): 3522-3548.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2020, American Economic Association)

DOI

10.1257/aer.20171175

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Social norms, usually persistent, can change quickly when new public information arrives, such as a surprising election outcome. People may become more inclined to express views or take actions previously perceived as stigmatized and may judge others less negatively for doing so. We examine this possibility using two experiments. We first show via revealed preference experiments that Donald Trump's rise in popularity and eventual victory increased individuals' willingness to publicly express xenophobic views. We then show that individuals are sanctioned less negatively if they publicly expressed a xenophobic view in an environment where that view is more popular.

Language: en

Keywords

Economic Anthropology; Language; Political Processes: Rent-seeking, Lobbying, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior, Network Formation and Analysis: Theory, Economic Sociology; Social and Economic Stratification