Do the poor want to be regulated? Public opinion surveys on regulation in the United States, 1981–2002

Abstract

Recent research has demonstrated that public regulation of private economic activity often has regressive effects. Despite those effects, poorer Americans show strong support for a variety of regulations in public opinion surveys. I use the database of survey questions from 1981 to 2002, assembled by Martin Gilens, to identify 85 questions that deal with economic regulation. Poorer Americans support regulation on most issues, and they often favor regulatory intervention more than Americans at the median or upper income levels. I also use similar questions from surveys of economists to suggest the possibility of rational irrationality on the part of low-income Americans when they disagree with economists.

Appendix: Text of questions and statements from Table 1

Note: for some statements, “Do you support or oppose” is implicit

• 1. General regulations

Medicine capsules (1)

• The federal government prohibiting the manufacture of any medicines in capsules, because it is impossible to keep them from being poisoned (1986)

Employer healthcare (2)

• Would you support or oppose a federal law requiring all employers to provide health insurance to their full-time employees? (1993, 1 similar in 1994)

OSHA (2)

• Much stricter federal enforcement of health and safety standards on the job (1987)

• Cutting back sharply on the enforcement of employee safety regulations by OSHA (1981)

Minimum wage (15)

• Do you favor or oppose increasing the minimum wage? (1993, similar questions with no specific dollar amounts in 1998 and 2001)

• Would you favor or oppose raising the minimum wage from $4.25 an hour to $5.15 an hour by July, 1997? (1996, similar questions with specific dollar figures in 1995 [2], 1996 [3], 1997, 1998 [2], 1999)

• Here are several ways people have suggested would help conditions for minorities in urban areas… Automatically increase the minimum wage each year to keep pace with inflation (1992)

• Increase the minimum wage to make work a more attractive alternative to welfare (1992)

Labor regulations (3)

• Giving employers a much stronger voice on the National Labor Relations Board, which sets the rules and regulations guaranteeing the rights of workers to join unions (1981)

• Would you favor or oppose a law which required an employer to give a year’s notice to the employees before closing down the place where they work? (1985)

• Do you favor or oppose a federal law which would prohibit employers from hiring permanent replacements for striking workers? (1992)

Price controls (6)

• Price controls on gasoline and home heating oil (1990; 4 similar questions in 2001 on gasoline, electricity/natural gas, and power companies)

• Would you support or oppose federal price controls on medical expenses such as doctors, fees, hospital charges and drug prices? (1994)

CPSC (1)

• Cutting down the scope and enforcement powers of the Consumer Product Safety Commission (1981)

Wage/productivity law (1)

• Adopting a national policy which ties wage increases to increases in productivity in order to make the US more able to compete with Japan, Germany, and other nations (1990)

Advertising (4)

• Putting severe restrictions on the advertising and sale of cigarettes to minors (1998)

• Would you favor or oppose banning all advertising of beer and wine from radio and television, as ads for cigarettes have been banned? (1985)

• Do you support or oppose having the government allow only black and white text–no color or pictures–on tobacco billboards and in cigarette advertisements in magazines that many young people read? (1995)

• Several other measures have also been advanced as ways to reduce drunk driving. Do you tend to favor or oppose? Banning beer and wine advertising on radio and TV (1986)

One-year new-regulations ban (1)

• Do you favor or oppose placing a 1 year ban on most new federal regulations, including some which opponents say protect consumers, workers and the environment? (1995)

Family leave (6)

• Do you favor or oppose giving a working mother who has a baby the right under the law to take up to 12 weeks in non-paid parental leave? (1991, 1 similar in 1990; also 1 question in 1992 and 3 in 1993 add leave for sick family member)

Airlines (2)

• Do you favor continuing deregulation of the airlines and letting competition determine what happens to airline services, or do you favor putting back more government regulation of the airlines on what routes they can fly and what fares they can charge? (1983)

• Continuing deregulation of the airlines even if this means less airline service in many communities (1983)

• 2. Environmental regulations

Conservation (1)

• Place mandatory conservation regulations on businesses and consumers? (2001)

ANWR (9)

• Do you favor or oppose legislation which would: open up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska to oil and gas exploration? (1995, similar questions in 2001 [3] and 2002 [4])

• Geologists estimate that the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska could supply enough oil to fuel US consumption for between 6 months and 3 years. Supporters of drilling say the country needs to do whatever it can to expand oil supplies. Opponents of drilling say it would damage the environment in an unspoiled part of the country. Do you approve or disapprove of drilling for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska? (2001)

Other oil drill (3)

• The Bush administration is thinking of opening up national forests in the northern Rocky Mountains for oil and gas drilling. Do you support or oppose this? (2001)

• Prohibiting offshore drilling for oil, even if it were to cause higher gas prices (2002)

• The Reagan Administration, through Secretary of the Interior James Watt, has announced that it wants to lease to oil companies sizable parts of the Pacific Ocean off the California coast for oil exploration. The State of California objects to this policy claiming such drilling activities will adversely affect the coastal environment there. Do you favor or oppose the leasing to oil companies those tracts off the California coast? (1981)

Pollution (1)

• Stronger laws to keep industrial pollution from factories and power plants to a minimum (1989)

Global warming (4)

• President Bush has announced that the US will not join the proposed Kyoto Treaty on global warming. Do you think that the US should join the treaty, should not join the treaty, or do you not know enough to say? (2001, two other questions from 2001 with even more framing)

• George W Bush reversed a campaign promise to reduce the emission of carbon dioxide from power plants which many experts believe contributes to global warming. He said that requiring carbon dioxide controls at the this time would add too much to the cost of power production and that the nation instead needs an overall national energy strategy. Do you support or oppose Bush’s decision not to reduce the emission of carbon dioxide from power plants? (2001)

Water pollution (4)

• Relax federal standards on pollution of lakes and rivers by toxic substances from factories (1982 and 1983)

• Some people feel that the government should not order industries to clean up their water pollution unless it can be shown that the benefits of the cleanup justify the costs involved. Others disagree and say the value of eliminating unsafe pollutants in water can’t be measured in dollars. Would you favor changing the Clean Water Act so that the government couldn’t order an industry to clean up its water pollution if the cost didn’t justify it, or would you oppose such a change in the Clean Water Act? (1982)

• Arsenic is a known cancer-causing agent which occurs in water either naturally or because of activities such as mining. Federal regulations set limits on the level of arsenic allowable in drinking water. Bush overturned a Clinton administration ruling which would have reduced that level by 80%. Bush said that Clinton’s proposed rule would cost local water districts too much money, and that his administration would find a less costly way to reduce arsenic levels. Do you support or oppose Bush’s action in overturning the regulations to reduce arsenic in drinking water? (2001)

Air pollution (8)

• Relax pollution standards to allow power plants to burn higher sulfur content oil and coal (1981, 1982, and 1983)

• Relax clean air and environmental standards? (2001)

• Relax regulations that protect national park and wilderness areas from air pollution (1981, 1982, and 1983)

• Relax national air quality standards (1981)

Auto pollution (9)

• Would you approve or disapprove of the government requiring car manufacturers to meet higher fuel efficiency standards than they do now? (2001 [3])

• Do you favor or oppose… increasing the fuel efficiency requirements for American cars to 40 miles per gallon by the year 2000, even if it increases the price of cars. (1992)

• There has been an increase in the sale of sport utility vehicles and other large automobiles around the country. These cars use more gas per mile than other automobiles. Environmental groups say the government should require the auto industry to improve fuel efficiency for SUVs to help the country meet its energy needs. The auto industry says that doing so would raise the price of new cars. Based on this, do you support or oppose government action to require improved gas mileage for SUVs? (2001)

• Stricter control of emissions from auto engines to control air pollution (1990)

• Relax current auto pollution standards (1981, 1982, and 1983)

Hazardous waste (2)

• Relax federal standards on disposal of hazardous wastes (1982 and 1983)