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Policy Attitudes in Institutional Context: Rules, Uncertainty, and the Mass Politics of Public Investment

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  • Alan M. Jacobs
  • J. Scott Matthews

Abstract

This article examines the link between citizens’ policy attitudes and the institutional context in which policies are carried out. The article develops a theory of opinion formation toward policies that impose costs on citizens in order to invest in broadly valued social goods. In this framework, problems of agency loss and time inconsistency leave citizens uncertain about whether promised policy benefits will be delivered. Citizen support for public investments thus depends on whether the institutional context makes elites’ policy promises credible. We consider hypotheses about how the institutional allocation of authority and the institutional rules governing implementation affect citizen support for public investment, and we find broad support for the framework in three survey experiments administered to representative samples of U.S. citizens. The results shed light on the link between political institutions and citizens’ attitudes, the capacities of voters for substantive political reasoning, and the political prospects for public investment.

Suggested Citation

  • Alan M. Jacobs & J. Scott Matthews, 2017. "Policy Attitudes in Institutional Context: Rules, Uncertainty, and the Mass Politics of Public Investment," American Journal of Political Science, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 61(1), pages 194-207, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:amposc:v:61:y:2017:i:1:p:194-207
    DOI: 10.1111/ajps.12209
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    Cited by:

    1. Kyle, Jordan, 2017. "Local corruption and support for fuel subsidy reform: Evidence from Indonesia," IFPRI discussion papers 1620, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    2. Kim-Lee Tuxhorn & John W. D'Attoma & Sven Steinmo, 2019. "Trust in institutions: Narrowing the ideological gap over the federal budget," Journal of Behavioral Public Administration, Center for Experimental and Behavioral Public Administration, vol. 2(1).
    3. Carlos Seixas & Diogo Lourenço, 2024. "On the optimality of policy choices in the face of biased beliefs, retrospective voting and the down-up problem," Social Choice and Welfare, Springer;The Society for Social Choice and Welfare, vol. 63(2), pages 299-321, September.
    4. Henrik Serup Christensen & Lauri Rapeli, 2021. "Immediate rewards or delayed gratification? A conjoint survey experiment of the public’s policy preferences," Policy Sciences, Springer;Society of Policy Sciences, vol. 54(1), pages 63-94, March.
    5. Masakazu Ogami, 2024. "The Conditionality of Political Short‐Termism: A Review of Empirical and Experimental Studies," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 12.
    6. Mary Jo McGowan & JoEllen V. Pope & Martha E. Kropf & Zachary Mohr, 2021. "Guns or Butter… or Elections? Understanding intertemporal and distributive dimensions of policy choice through the examination of budgetary tradeoffs at the local level," Public Budgeting & Finance, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 41(4), pages 3-19, December.

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