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“Deservingness” and Public Support for Universal Public Goods: A Survey Experiment

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dc.contributor.authorLastra Anadón, Carlos
dc.contributor.authorGift, Thomas
dc.contributor.rorhttps://ror.org/02jjdwm75
dc.date.accessioned2025-02-14T11:59:46Z
dc.date.available2025-02-14T11:59:46Z
dc.date.issued2023-04-03
dc.description.abstractVoters support less spending on means-tested entitlements when they perceive beneficiaries as lacking motivation to work and pay taxes. Yet do concerns about the motivations of “undeserving” beneficiaries also extend to universal public goods (UPGs) that are free and available to all citizens? Lower spending on UPGs poses a particular trade-off: it lessens subsidization of “unmotivated” beneficiaries, but at the expense of reducing the ideal levels of UPGs that voters personally can access. Studies suggest that individuals will sacrifice their preferred amounts of public goods when beneficiaries who do not pay taxes try to access these goods, but it is unclear whether they distinguish based on motivations. To analyze this question, we field a nationally representative survey experiment in the UK that randomly activates some respondents to think about users of the country's universal National Health Service as either “motivated” or “unmotivated” noncontributors. Although effect sizes were modest and spending preferences remained high across the board, results show that respondents support less spending on the NHS when activated to think of users as “unmotivated” noncontributors. These findings suggest how the deservingness heuristic may shape public attitudes toward government spending, regardless of whether benefits are targeted or universal.
dc.description.peerreviewedyes
dc.description.statusPublished
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dc.identifier.citationGift, T., & Lastra-Anadón, C. X. (2023). “Deservingness” and Public Support for Universal Public Goods: A Survey Experiment. Public Opinion Quarterly, 87(1), 44-68. https://doi.org/10.1093/poq/nfad007
dc.identifier.doihttps://doi.org/10.1093/poq/nfad007
dc.identifier.issn1537-5331
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14417/3554
dc.issue.number1
dc.journal.titlePublic Opinion Quarterly
dc.language.isoen
dc.page.final68
dc.page.initial44
dc.page.total25
dc.publisherOxford academic
dc.relation.departmentComparative Politics
dc.relation.entityIE University
dc.relation.schoolIE School of Politics, Economics & Global Affairs
dc.rightsAttribution 4.0 International
dc.rights.accessRightsinfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
dc.rights.urihttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed
dc.title“Deservingness” and Public Support for Universal Public Goods: A Survey Experiment
dc.typeinfo:eu-repo/semantics/article
dc.version.typeinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
dc.volume.number87
dspace.entity.typePublication
relation.isAuthorOfPublicationfab58387-7c5f-4b60-8219-08521a621ad1
relation.isAuthorOfPublication.latestForDiscoveryfab58387-7c5f-4b60-8219-08521a621ad1
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