Which factors affect public support for economic policies? Evidence from a survey experiment about rent control in Germany

C-Tier
Journal: Economica
Year: 2025
Volume: 92
Issue: 367
Pages: 920-958

Authors (3)

Mathias Dolls (not in RePEc) Paul Schüle (not in RePEc) Lisa Windsteiger (Paris-Lodron Universität Salzb...)

Score contribution per author:

0.335 = (α=2.01 / 3 authors) × 0.5x C-tier

α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count

Abstract

We conduct a survey experiment among 18,000 respondents in Germany to examine the determinants of support for rent control policies. We find that highlighting undesirable price and supply effects lowers respondents' agreement with rent control, while pointing out that it can prevent the displacement of low‐income tenants increases agreement. However, while our treatments shift support for the policy into the hypothesized direction, the effect size decreases with misperceptions. Our results suggest that responsiveness to new information depends largely on prior beliefs, which affect perceived credibility and political neutrality of the received information. Mere information provision may therefore not be sufficient to effectively alter policy views.

Technical Details

RePEc Handle
repec:bla:econom:v:92:y:2025:i:367:p:920-958
Journal Field
General
Author Count
3
Added to Database
2026-01-25