Bad News and Policy Views. Expectations, Disappointment, and Opposition to Affirmative Action.

Autor/inn/en	Lepage, Louis Pierre; Sarsons, Heather; Thaler, Michael
Institution	National Bureau of Economic Research
Titel	Bad News and Policy Views. Expectations, Disappointment, and Opposition to Affirmative Action.
Quelle	Cambridge, Mass: National Bureau of Economic Research (2026) PDF als Volltext (1); PDF als Volltext (2) Link als defekt meldenVerfügbarkeit
Reihe	NBER working paper series. w35045
Beigaben	Illustrationen
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	online; Monografie; Graue Literatur
DOI	10.3386/w35045
Schlagwörter	Kommunikation; Meinung; Recht; Lernen; Antidiskriminierung; Glaube; Arbeitspapier; Student; USA
Abstract	There is widespread opposition to affirmative action policies. We study whether personal disappointments shape preferences for such policies. Specifically, we test whether individuals' college admissions outcomes, relative to their expectations, influence their attitudes toward affirmative action policies. Using a retrospective survey among recent White and Asian college applicants, we find that disappointed individuals--those who were admitted to fewer schools than anticipated--are relatively more likely to believe that affirmative action played an important role in their admissions outcomes, have the lowest support for affirmative action policies, and are more willing to donate to an anti-affirmative action organization. They also hold more negative views about the academic qualifications of under-represented minorities. To isolate the causal effect of "bad news" from selection, we conduct a complementary survey experiment with parents of future college applicants. We randomize whether parents receive information about their child's admissions prospects. Providing bad news to overconfident parents causes them to increase opposition to affirmative action and donate to an anti-affirmative action organization. Results suggest that some individuals attribute bad news to external factors, specifically policies that benefit out-groups.
Erfasst von	ZBW - Leibniz-Informationszentrum Wirtschaft, Kiel
Update	2026/4