Evidence of ideological bias
Using a well-known experimental “deception” technique embedded in an online survey that involves just over 2400 economists from 19 countries, Javdani and Chang fictitiously attribute the source of 15 quotations to famous economists of different leanings. In other words, all participants received identical statements to agree or disagree with, but source attribution was randomly changed without the participants’ knowledge. The experiment provides clear evidence that ideological bias strongly influences the ideas and judgement of economists. In particular:
- Changing source attributions from mainstream to less-/non-mainstream figures significantly reduces the respondents’ reported agreement with statements;
- Economists’ self-reported political orientation strongly influences their ideological bias, with estimated bias going up as respondents’ political views move to the right, and;
- The estimated bias is also stronger among mainstream than among heterodox economists, with macroeconomists exhibiting the strongest bias.
“[W]e find that the largest reduction in agreement level for treatment 1 occurs for Statement 6, which is arguably the statement that is most critical of mainstream economics and its methods, and also brings up the issue of ideological bias in mainstream economics.”
Who Said or What Said? Estimating Ideological Bias in Views Among Economists
Authors: Mohsen Javdani, Ha-Joon Chang
From: University of British Columbia, University of Cambridge
