Social Economics Lab

What we do

We design and implement large-scale social economic surveys to study how people understand, reason, and learn about economic issues.

Mobility Ratio — This map shows the ratio between average state-level perceived probability to the actual state-level probability of moving from the bottom to the top quintile. The darker colors mean that people are more optimistic about upward mobility in places with lower mobility.

inc_est_test3 — These word clouds show the most common responses to open-ended questions about the income and estate taxes.

Fighting Climate Change: International Attitudes Toward Climate Policies

We survey 40,000 people in 20 countries to study the understanding of and attitudes toward climate change and climate policies. Given the urgency of climate action, we seek to understand what drives support for or opposition to important climate policies across the world. Is opposition driven by a lack of understanding about the impacts of climate change? Are they worried about policies’ potential impact on their finances and lifestyle? What are their broader concerns?

We find that people’s support for climate policies hinges on three key perceptions: (1) its effectiveness, (2) its impact on equality, and (3) its impact on their own household.

What we do

We design and implement large-scale social economic surveys to study how people understand, reason, and learn about economic issues.

Latest Research

Fighting Climate Change: International Attitudes Toward Climate Policies

Selected Research