Research on the economic backgrounds of politicians is once again flourishing in political
science. In this article, we describe the economic characteristics that scholars have recently …

Why are Americans governed by the rich? Millionaires make up only three percent of the
public but control all three branches of the federal government. How did this happen? What …

We examine whether individuals' experienced levels of income inequality affect their
preferences for redistribution. We use several large nationally representative datasets to …

We study the long run effects of immigration on American political ideology. Exploiting cross-
county variation in the presence of European immigrants between 1900 and 1930, we …

How do immigration attitudes form? Drawing on the political socialization literature, I argue
that growing up in a recession causes a lasting increase in anti-immigration attitudes. I …

Studies argue that macroeconomic contractions create immediate incentives for individuals
to pursue entrepreneurship. However, research has not addressed whether past …

ABSTRACT A growing body of work has shown that aggregate shocks affect the formation of
preferences and beliefs. This article reviews evidence from sociology, social psychology …

In this study, we analyse the existence of critical periods in the formation of beliefs and
attitudes. We explore the hypothesis of impressionable years (18–25) about having …

There is some evidence that people who grew up in economic hard times more strongly
favor government redistribution and are more compassionate towards the poor. We …

How does inclusion in social policy programs strengthen individuals' support for
redistribution, and lead to spillovers in support for future social policy programs? We study a …