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UFOs: The Political Economy of Unidentified Threats

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  • Kitamura, Shuhei

Abstract

In this paper, I study the effect of Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs) on political outcomes in the United States. Exploiting a random variation in the visibility of UFOs in the sky, I find that UFO sightings before general elections between 2000-2016 increased the vote share of the Republican presidential candidates. I also find that UFO sightings led voters to believe that the government should increase federal spending on military defense and on technology and science, although the latter effect was marginal. The results indicate that voters regard UFOs as unidentified threats to national security that warrant further defense enhancements and scientific research.

Suggested Citation

  • Kitamura, Shuhei, 2022. "UFOs: The Political Economy of Unidentified Threats," OSF Preprints tme8f, Center for Open Science.
    • Handle: RePEc:osf:osfxxx:tme8f
    DOI: 10.31219/osf.io/tme8f
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