Chapter 25

Taxes, Social Policy, Passions, and Citizenship

Eugene Galanter, Howard Moskowitz and Matthias Silcher

Abstract

The methods we used so far to study individual responses to economic aspects of daily life, products, services, and so forth, are equally applicable to public policy. One needs, of course, to modify some of the instructions, to call attention to the fact that the concepts deal with public policy, not one’s own life. Properly done, however, we begin to see the potential of experimentation in public policy. And so we now open yet a new chapter, this time in the psychological economics of public policy. The key: We combine the experimental method (conjoint analysis), with two key questions, one of interest and one of economics (taxes willing to pay). The combination provides an interesting tool by which to assess key aspects of public policy, in our case education.

Total Pages: 249-259 (11)

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