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Support for free-market policies and reforms: Does the field of study influence students' political attitudes?

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  • Fischer, Mira
  • Kauder, Björn
  • Potrafke, Niklas
  • Ursprung, Heinrich W.

Abstract

Since opinion leaders are usually university graduates, the field of study has an influence on public support for economic policies and policy reforms intended to enhance efficiency because advocating such policies often requires appreciation of the beneficial roles of markets and economic freedom. We investigate whether the field of study influences German university students' political attitudes. We disentangle self-selection from learning effects and reveal systematic differences between incoming students' political attitudes across eight fields of study. In a second step we explore how the students' political attitudes change as they progress in their academic training. Only studying economics has an unambiguous pro-market influence on political attitudes: by the time of graduation, economics students are some 6.2 percentage points more likely than they were in their initial year of study to agree with free-market policy positions. Studying humanities and natural sciences has a pro-leftist influence.

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  • Fischer, Mira & Kauder, Björn & Potrafke, Niklas & Ursprung, Heinrich W., 2017. "Support for free-market policies and reforms: Does the field of study influence students' political attitudes?," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 180-197.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:poleco:v:48:y:2017:i:c:p:180-197
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ejpoleco.2016.07.002
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    2. Kristin Fischer & Björn Kauder & Niklas Potrafke, 2016. "Beeinflusst das Studienfach die politische Einstellung von Studierenden?," ifo Schnelldienst, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, vol. 69(15), pages 17-24, August.
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    5. Tatiana Litvinova & Olga Vershinina & Gennady Moskvitin, 2020. "Social and Political Attitudes of Moscow Students on the Background of the All-Russia and Regional Youth Studies," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 9(9), pages 1-18, September.
    6. Björn Kauder & Niklas Potrafke, 2022. "Rewarding conservative politicians? Evidence from voting on same-sex marriage," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 191(1), pages 161-172, April.
    7. Arye L. Hillman, 2021. "Heinrich Ursprung: a scholarly life," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 189(3), pages 305-312, December.
    8. Minasyan, Anna, 2018. "US aid, US educated leaders and economic ideology," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 244-257.
    9. Yvonne Giesing & Björn Kauder & Lukas Mergele & Niklas Potrafke & Panu Poutvaara, 2024. "Moving Out of the Comfort Zone: How Cultural Norms Affect Attitudes toward Immigration," CESifo Working Paper Series 10985, CESifo.
    10. Alberto Montagnoli & Mirko Moro & Georgios A. Panos & Robert E. Wright, 2016. "Financial Literacy and Political Orientation in Great Britain," Working Papers 2016_23, Business School - Economics, University of Glasgow.
    11. Liesbet Hooghe & Gary Marks, "undated". "The Social Roots of the Transnational Cleavage: Education, Occupation, and Sex," RSCAS Working Papers 2022/53, European University Institute.
    12. Maite D. Laméris & Richard Jong-A-Pin & Rasmus Wiese, 2018. "An Experimental Test of the Validity of Survey-Measured Political Ideology," CESifo Working Paper Series 7139, CESifo.
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    14. Maite D. Laméris & Pierre-Guillaume Méon & Anne-Marie Prooijen, 2023. "What have we done?! The impact of economics on the beliefs and values of business students," Journal of Business Economics, Springer, vol. 93(3), pages 433-483, April.
    15. Lindov, Dalila, 2020. "Teachers and politics," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
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