| 1. |
- Calmfors, Lars, et al.
(författare)
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Trade in goods, trade in services and outsourcing - How do attitudes differ?
- 2008
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Free trade in goods has become more or less generally accepted. On the other hand, the debates on wages for posted workers in several EU countries as well as the controversy around the new EU Service Directive show that there are much more hostile attitudes towards free trade in services. However, for economists it is natural to analyze trade in services – and their labour market implications – in a similar way as trade in goods. The objective of the project is to document to what extent attitudes towards trade in goods, trade in services and offshoring (outsourcing) differ and to explain what factors that could account for this. First, we examine the “rational” (conscious) arguments that people may have against free trade in services and offshoring. Some of these arguments deal with people’s perceptions of the changes in expected utility that would result from the opening up of international trade in services and offshoring, whereas others deal with the perceptions of the effects on broader “values” such as fairness and social cohesion. Second, we look at a number of “psychological” (unconscious) factors that are known to affect people’s judgments in public policy issues. Such factors are usually related to people’s motivation to maintain psychological and emotional comfort and coherent self-image. Two studies are presented in this report. The results from a nation wide survey with 1000 respondents showed that free trade in services and offshoring is more negatively evaluated than free trade. The results also show that “rational” factors cannot account for the difference in attitudes to different types of trade. Our conclusion was that there must exist some psychological mechanisms that cause this overall more negative attitude towards trade in services and offshoring. The result from experiments showed that it was possible to separate more permanent specific attitudes underlying the attitude towards free trade in goods from unstable and contextual specific attitudes that are constructed on the spot in order to make one’s position more coherent. It was also found that the attitude may depend on personality oriented factors (prevention or promotions focus) as well as social psychological factors (ingroup favoritism). We hope that the results of the present investigation may be useful in the area of trade politics for improving the communication between economists and people in general.
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| 2. |
- Calmfors, Lars, et al.
(författare)
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Trade in services and in goods with low-wage countries : how do attitudes differ and how are they formed?
- 2009
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Frågan om låglönekonkurrens med utstationerad arbetskraft ska tillåtas inom EU eller om denna arbetskraft ska betalas samma löner som i värdlandet har de senaste åren varit flitigt omdebatterad i många EU-länder. I Sverige symboliseras denna debatt av Vaxholmskonflikten. I rapporten Trade in Services and in Goods with Low-Wage Countries - How Do Attitudes Differ and How Are They Formed? analyserar ekonomer och psykologer attityderna till olika typer av låglönekonkurrens. Resultaten bekräftar att attityderna är mer negativa till låglönekonkurrens i tjänstehandel som innefattar utstationerad arbetskraft än till "vanlig" import av varor från låglöneländer. Attitydbildningen verkar ha såväl "rationella" som "irrationella" komponenter. Detta gäller både de som förespråkar fri lönekonkurrens och de som är emot, även om analysen visar att det rationella inslaget tycks vara större för den förra gruppen.
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| 3. |
- Calmfors, Lars, et al.
(författare)
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Uppfattas tjänstehandel som mindre rättvis än varuhandel? : En studie av attityder till låglönekonkurrens i utrikeshandel
- 2011
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Rapport (refereegranskat)abstract
- Ett antal arbetsmarknadskonflikter relaterade till låglönekonkurrens med utstationerad arbetskraft har blivit livligt uppmärksammade i den offentliga debatten runt om i EU:s medlemsländer. Av debatten att döma tycks de flesta medborgare ha en mer negativ inställning till låglönekonkurrens när det gäller import av tjänster innefattande utstationerad arbetskraft än när det gäller import av varor. Vår rapport studerar hur attityderna till låglönekonkurrens skiljer sig åt mellan olika former av handel genom att kombinera ekonomisk och psykologisk forskning. Resultaten bekräftar att attityderna är mer negativa till låglönekonkurrens i tjänstehandel och till offshoring än till varuimport från låglöneländerna. Demografiska, socioekonomiska och politisk-ideologiska bakgrundsfaktorer påverkar attityderna till handel i linje med resultaten från tidigare studier av handelsattityder. Däremot förefaller bakgrundsvariabler ha liten betydelse för skillnader i attityder mellan olika typer av handel. Vi genomförde även experiment för att klargöra i vilken grad attityden till tjänstehandel bildas utifrån rationella överväganden runt olika aspekter, det vill säga från underliggande attityddimensioner, eller om dessa attityddimensioner på grund av koherenssökande i stället anpassas till den generella attityden. Resultaten ger starkt stöd för att koherenssökande spelar stor roll i attitydbildningen till låglönekonkurrens med utstationerad arbetskraft. Tendensen till koherenssökande tycks vara kraftigare för dem som har en negativ inställning till sådan låglönekonkurrens än för dem som är positiva. Det skulle kunna tolkas som att den negativa gruppen bildar sina attityder på ett mindre rationellt sätt än den positiva gruppen. En alternativ tolkning är att den positiva gruppen ser sig som utmanare av den existerande ordningen, vilket enligt psykologisk forskning kan göra den mindre benägen att nyansera sin inställning.
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| 4. |
- Calmfors, Lars, et al.
(författare)
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Why Do People Dislike Low-Wage Trade Competition with Posted Workers in the Service Sector?
- 2012
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The issue of low-wage competition in services trade involving posted workers is controversial in the EU. Using Swedish survey data, people’s attitudes are found to be more negative to such trade than to goods trade. The differences depend on both a preference for favouring social groups to which individuals belong (here the domestic population) and altruistic justice concerns for foreign workers. In small-group experiments we find a tendency for people to adjust their evaluations of various aspects of trade to their general attitude. This tendency is stronger for those opposed to than those in favour of low-wage trade competition. This may indicate that the former group forms its attitudes in a less rational way than the latter group.
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| 5. |
- Dimdins, Girts, et al.
(författare)
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A two-dimensional model for measurement of political orientation
- 2014
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Ingår i: On conference website.
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Although often measured on a single right-left (or conservative-liberal) continuum, individual political orientation can be conceptualized as consisting of at least two orthogonal dimensions. The first is acceptance vs. rejection of social change, and the second is acceptance vs. rejection of inequality. We propose a theoretical model where the former dimension is represented as acceptance vs. avoidance of uncertainty, and the latter dimension is represented as tough mindedness vs. empathy. The former axis corresponds to the conservation vs. openness to change dimension in the Schwartz's (1992) value model; the latter axis corresponds to the self-enhancement vs. self-transcendence dimension. Two secondary axes represent the possible combinations of the variables defining the primary axes. Tough mindedness in combination with uncertainty avoidance result in high system justification, whereas empathy in combination with uncertainty acceptance represents low system justification. This axis corresponds to the self-protection vs. growth dimension of the refined Schwartz et al. (2011) value model. Tough mindedness in combination with uncertainty acceptance results in preference for self-reliance, whereas the opposite combination represents preference for dependence on others. This axis corresponds to the personal vs. social focus of the Schwartz et al. (2011) value model. Participants (N = 287) completed both one-dimensional and two-dimensional measures of political orientation, measures of social dominance orientation, right wing authoritarianism, system justification, need for cognitive closure, moral motives, values, dependence on others, and a number of political attitude measures. Multidimensional scaling supported the proposed model. The results show that the network of political beliefs and attitudes that represents individual political orientation can be largely reduced to the basic psychological variables of uncertainty avoidance and tough-mindedness, and that both dimensions of political orientation are separable not only theoretically, but also empirically. Our findings call for using two-dimensional measures of political orientation instead of one-dimensional measures (even in cultural contexts where both dimensions are highly correlated), because each dimension can be used to predict its own set of political beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors.
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| 6. |
- Dimdins, Girts, et al.
(författare)
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Attitudes to freedom and equality among Swedish and American students
- 2005
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Ingår i: Democracy unbound - Basic explorations. ; , s. 29-43
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Bokkapitel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The study compared Swedish and American attitudes towards freedom and equality and examined the perceived trade-off between both concepts in the two groups. First-year students from Stockholm University and Stanford University took part in the study. The participants ranked ordered a number of values—among them equality of opportunity, freedom of lifestyle, economic freedom, and freedom of speech—and indicated to what extent they were prepared to increase freedom in their society at the expense of reducing equality, and vice versa. The participants also indicated their preferences for different options in public policy decision scenarios. There were no significant differences in terms of value preferences between both samples. But there was a difference in terms of readiness to compromise freedom for equality or equality for freedom. Participants with very strong preferences for either freedom or equality in the Swedish sample were more likely for compromise between both values than participants with strong preferences in the US sample. Participants with moderate preferences for freedom or equality in either sample were unlikely to give up freedom for equality or vice versa. The results are discussed in the context of previous cross-cultural studies comparing political value preferences in both countries.
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| 7. |
- Dimdins, Girts, et al.
(författare)
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Cognition and Neurosciences: Differentiating explanations of attitude-consistent behavior : The role of perspectives and mode of perspective taking.
- 2005
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Ingår i: Scandinavian Journal of Psychology. - : Wiley. - 0036-5564 .- 1467-9450. ; 46:2, s. 97-106
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Tidskriftsartikel (populärvet., debatt m.m.)abstract
- We examined whether participants could differentiate between explanations of attitude-consistent behavior related to EU membership given from two perspectives (EU supporter and EU opponent) by means of three perspective taking modes (the explainer's own perspective, imagined in-group members' perspective, and imagined out-group members' perspective). Participants were presented with explanations provided from different perspectives and perspective taking modes, and they were asked to judge the extent to which they agreed with each explanation, to guess the attitude of the provider of each explanation, and to rate the quality of each explanation in various respects. Participants could not differentiate between explanations given by in-group members and out-group members who imagined the same perspective. They responded more favorably to explanations given from own perspective than from the imagined perspectives. The results suggest that there exists a shared understanding about how both sides should explain attitude-consistent behavior, but this understanding is measurably different from the actual explanations.
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| 8. |
- Dimdins, Girts, et al.
(författare)
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Differentiating in-group favoritism from shared reality in intergroup perception.
- 2004
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Ingår i: Scandinavian Journal of Psychology. - : Wiley. - 0036-5564 .- 1467-9450. ; 45:5, s. 417-427
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Two basic factors influence mutual ratings of social groups: in-group favoritism (related to the evaluative aspects of a rating) and the perception of shared reality (related to the descriptive aspects). In two studies, we examine the usefulness of Peabody's (1968) method of separating evaluative and descriptive aspects of rating in intergroup judgments. In Study 1, Latvian and Russian students made different evaluations of both groups, but the same groups agreed on the descriptive ratings. In Study 2, male and female psychology students rated each otter from own, in-group, and out-group perspectives. The participants did not show any in-group favoritism in their own ratings, but they expected their fellow students to be in-group biased. The participants agreed on the descriptive ratings of both groups. The results demonstrate that shared reality influences intergroup ratings, despite differences in evaluations.
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| 9. |
- Dimdins, Girts, et al.
(författare)
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Effects of framing on perceptions of economic freedom, economic equality, and social justice.
- 2006
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Ingår i: Viability and Desirability of Global Democracy..
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Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The aim of the study was to examine peoples’ perceptions of the economic dimension of the dilemma between individual freedom and collective equality in society. Our previous research in the frameworks of the project had suggested that the economic aspect—rather than political freedom and equality—elicit the strongest differences in people’s opinions. A tax reform proposed by a number of conservative parties in Sweden served as a background of the study. The proposed reform was aimed at improving the state budget by increasing the incentives for working and decreasing the incentives of receiving social benefits from the state. Seventy-two Stockholm University undergraduates participated in the study. Each participant read descriptions of several possible tax plans in an imaginary society. When presenting the plans, we manipulated several factors. First, the plans were formulated in a way that the tax reform would lead either to increase of income for working people (reward), or a decrease of income for those receiving benefits for the state (penalty). Second, the plans would either affect everyone (meritocratic), or would be aimed at benefiting the low-income groups in society (egalitarian). In addition, the plans were presented either as a change to an existing tax system, or as a new tax system to be introduced. The difference in tax size between workers and social benefit receivers was constant (in favor of workers) in all formulations. The participants evaluated the tax plans according to three criteria—how much each plan would contribute to social justice, to economic freedom, and to economic equality in the society.The wording of the tax plans mattered most for evaluations of equality; these evaluations also elicited strongest differences between liberal and conservative respondents. The wording mattered least for evaluations of social justice, and had moderate effects on evaluations of freedom. The results showed that different factors influenced judgments of economic freedom and equality. For example, whether plans were worded as reward or penalty had a stronger influence on evaluations of freedom than on evaluations of equality. On the other hand, meritocratic vs. egalitarian formulation had a much stronger effect on evaluations of equality than on evaluations of freedom. The results show that, although freedom and equality are often depicted as opposing ends of the same continuum, people think about different things when evaluating—at least in economic terms—these two concepts. This, in turn, suggests that by careful framing of social issues it may be possible to avoid juxtaposition of values of freedom and democracy, and to reduce controversy in society.
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| 10. |
- Dimdins, Girts, et al.
(författare)
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Negative and positive stakes in plural voting : An experimental study
- 2009
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Ingår i: Baltic Journal of Psychology. - : Department of Psychology, Faculty of Education and Psychology, University of Latvija. - 1407-768X. ; 10:1-2, s. 14-24
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The paper reports the results of a study examining people’s attitudes towards plural voting (a system where voters with higher stakes in the decision are given multiple votes) in comparison to the traditional ”one person-one vote” principle. The participants (N = 102) were asked to evaluate various voting procedures that pre-assigned votes to different voter groups depending in the stakes of these groups in hypothetical scenarios regarding municipal-level decisions about construction work. Participants evaluated plural voting procedures more favorably when more information was available about the stakes of those involved in the voting process. Respondents’ preferences were independent of whether the stakes in question were positive or negative. The results show that, at least under experimental conditions, plural voting is acceptable to people, and in specific situations plural voting may be preferred to egalitarian voting.
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