Information provision and policy preferences: studies on pensions and gender inequality

Abstract

This dissertation studies the effect of information provision on beliefs, perceptions, and policy preferences, specifically in the contexts of pensions and gender inequality. It uses data from quota-representative telephone and online surveys conducted in Germany and the United States. All chapters use information provision experiments to test whether providing a random subset of respondents with information about either demographic change or gender differences in earnings and pensions affects respondents' preferences for policies aimed at coping with demographic change on the one hand and gender inequality on the other. The results suggest that the provision of information not only affects perceptions but also has some impact on policy preferences.