SOCIAL STUDIES

Thinking for yourself

Beginning in the 1954-55 school year, Poland removed much of the Communist indoctrination and preferential grading for young Communists that had been instituted in the school system several years earlier. Comparing Poles who were born just before versus just after the age-cutoff date for beginning elementary school, researchers found that those who were lucky enough to be subjected to one year less of the prereform elementary-school curriculum were more likely to complete higher education and to be working half a century later, when they were in their 50s in a postCommunist Poland. Survey responses suggest that those who were subjected to one year less of the Communist curriculum felt more personal agency even in later life. Costa-Font, J. et al., “Long-Lasting Effects of Indoctrination in School: Evidence From the People’s Republic of Poland,” European Economic Review (January 2024).

Poor criminals?

Being poor is associated with a higher likelihood of criminal activity, even in a country like Sweden, with relatively low inequality and an extensive social safety net. Swedish men in the bottom 10 percent of income are five times more likely to be convicted of a crime over a fiveyear period than men in the top 10 percent. But is this just a case of correlation, not causation? In other words, if we were to randomly deprive someone of a large amount of money or endow them with one, would that change their propensity to commit crimes? To answer half of this question, economists analyzed comprehensive data on lottery winners in Sweden and found that taking home a prize of at least $100,000 didn’t have statistically significant effects on the criminal activity of winners or their offspring. Cesarini, D. et al., “Does Wealth Inhibit Criminal Behavior? Evidence From Swedish Lottery Winners and Their Children,” National Bureau of Economic Research (December 2023).

Local news climate

Even though Louisiana is one of the states most vulnerable to climate change, it seems to be less concerned about the problem than much of the rest of the country and less enthusiastic about policies to address it, at least according to polls. Given the polarized national political environment, political scientists wondered if local news is a better vehicle for changing views than national news. In survey experiments, Louisiana residents read an article about the risk of extreme weather events in the state; the article was attributed to either an in-state newspaper (The Advocate) or a national newspaper (The New York Times or USA Today). After reading the article attributed to the in-state paper, people who identify strongly as Republicans were more likely to report that climate change is happening, were more concerned about it, and were more willing to take action. This effect wasn’t seen with people who weakly identify as Republicans, with independents, or with Democrats. Andrews, T. et al., “News From Home: How Local Media Shapes Climate Change Attitudes,” Public Opinion Quarterly (Winter 2023).

LOL I’m the best

Researchers submitted two bogus resumes to several hundred companies seeking to hire a full-time entry-level sales representative. The two resumes were basically identical except that in the “career objectives” section, one included self-enhancing humor (which is distinct from self-deprecating humor or jokes about other people). The joke was: “I have a proven track record of turning caffeine input into productivity output. The more coffee you can provide, the more output I will produce.” The one with the joke received more follow-up contact from companies. Self-enhancing humor was also associated with better outcomes in an analysis of business-idea pitches on the “Shark Tank” reality TV show and in experiments with hypothetical hiring scenarios. Pai, J. et al., “The Humor Advantage: Humorous Bragging Benefits Job Candidates and Entrepreneurs,” Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin (forthcoming).

Price discrimination

The game show “The Price Is Right” starts with four members of the audience being invited onstage to guess the retail price of a product; each contestant announces a guess in turn, and the winner is the one who comes closest to the actual price without exceeding it. As such, the last of the four contestants has a strong incentive to guess a price just one dollar over one of the previous guesses — which all but blocks that earlier contestant from any chance of winning. Analysis of the half-century-long run of this game reveals that the fourth contestant has been consistently less likely to employ this cutoff strategy against a contestant of the same gender even as this strategy has become more frequent overall over the years.

Atanasov, P. et al., “Taste-Based Gender Favouritism in High Stakes Decisions: Evidence From The Price Is Right,” Economic Journal (forthcoming).