Events

Patient Politics: Why Do Some Voters Support Far-Sighted Policies?

Speaker: Markus Prior

Professor of Politics and Public Affairs in the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs and the Department of Politics at Princeton University

Abstract

In many policy domains, reforms involve long-term planning. For example, reducing greenhouse gas emissions entails raising energy costs sooner for the benefit of limiting temperatures decades in the future. We define far-sighted policies as those with larger future benefits and smaller more immediate costs. Using original survey questions, we examine what timing of the costs people prefer—and why. Support for delaying costs could reflect a variety of causes, including opposition to the policy goal, material policy effects, partisan attachments, and impatience. Our analysis seeks to determine if timing preferences are related to individual and collective outcome patience when controlling for overall policy support, party ID, and income.

 

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