# Study says: the more you lean left, the less you know about economics **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [May 7, 2010, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/study-says-the-more-you-lean-left-the-less-you-know-about-economics/538643 "2010-05-07T16:23:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 12
**Author:** ![Richard\_Parker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/35a633/32.png) [@Richard\_Parker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Parker)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2011, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/study-says-the-more-you-lean-left-the-less-you-know-about-economics/538643/221 "2011-06-15T01:16:14Z")
I thought for sure this got revived because someone posted the followup study showin the opposite results when conservative dogma is attacked by economic principles. I’m on my phone so my google Fu is weak, but I’ll try to dig it up. Here. [http://thinkprogress.org/yglesias/2011/05/16/200998/confirmation-bias-and-economic-knowledge/](http://thinkprogress.org/yglesias/2011/05/16/200998/confirmation-bias-and-economic-knowledge/) ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2011, 11:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/study-says-the-more-you-lean-left-the-less-you-know-about-economics/538643/222 "2011-11-14T11:38:12Z")
Funny how that follow-up got less response. Daniel Klein is writing about it [again](http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2011/12/i-was-wrong-and-so-are-you/8713/): pick a set of questions subject to confirmation bias, and you get a biased observation. ---
**Author:** ![Hellestal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3ab097/32.png) [@Hellestal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hellestal)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2011, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/study-says-the-more-you-lean-left-the-less-you-know-about-economics/538643/223 "2011-11-14T12:53:59Z")
> [@Maserschmidt](#): > > Funny how that follow-up got less response. Daniel Klein is writing about it [again](http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2011/12/i-was-wrong-and-so-are-you/8713/): pick a set of questions subject to confirmation bias, and you get a biased observation. Here’s **Shodan** from [just last week](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=14444829#post14444829) indirectly citing the first study and claiming “conservatives are better informed than liberals about basic economics.” The second study has been out for half a year or so, but he must’ve missed it. What’s funniest about this is that the conservative blog he links says this:[ > [@](#): > > As satisfying as these results may seem for those of us on the right of center, I’m afraid I don’t find their analysis very persuasive. ]([http://www.professorbainbridge.com/professorbainbridgecom/2010/06/are-conservatives-smarter-at-economics-than-liberals.html](http://www.professorbainbridge.com/professorbainbridgecom/2010/06/are-conservatives-smarter-at-economics-than-liberals.html))There’s no indication **Shodan** actually read what he was linking. I’ve hardly ever read Bainbridge, but in this respect, he was obviously dead on. Even at the time the first study came out, it was apparent that it was anything but reliable. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2011, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/study-says-the-more-you-lean-left-the-less-you-know-about-economics/538643/224 "2011-11-16T18:55:20Z")
> [@Maserschmidt](#): > > Funny how that follow-up got less response. Daniel Klein is writing about it [again](http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2011/12/i-was-wrong-and-so-are-you/8713/): pick a set of questions subject to confirmation bias, and you get a biased observation. Thanks for linking this. My _Atlantic Monthly_ just came in the mail yesterday, and i read Klein’s piece in bed last night. My first thought was that i needed to open this thread and link to the new article. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2011, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/study-says-the-more-you-lean-left-the-less-you-know-about-economics/538643/225 "2011-11-27T02:42:59Z")
[On the Media](http://www.onthemedia.org/) interviewed Klein, this week: [Everyone Rejects Inconvenient Facts](http://www.onthemedia.org/2011/nov/25/everyone-rejects-inconvenient-facts/) He was pretty open about the fact that he had presumed that his first survey, (the one that prompted this thread), had been free from bias and that he had hoped that his follow-up survey would demonstrate that libertarians were better informed than the Left. He was also pretty open that the follow-up survey demonstrated nothing of the kind, showing, instead, that people simply responded well to their own confirmation biases and that his original survey had not been anything like “objective” and he had missed that because of his own biases. It was a good interview. ---
**Author:** ![Untoward\_Parable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/51bf81/32.png) [@Untoward\_Parable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Untoward_Parable)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2011, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/study-says-the-more-you-lean-left-the-less-you-know-about-economics/538643/226 "2011-11-27T02:52:58Z")
I wouldn’t be that surprised if it were true, people that study economics and business tend to be selfish pricks obviously. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2011, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/study-says-the-more-you-lean-left-the-less-you-know-about-economics/538643/227 "2011-11-27T03:16:55Z")
> [@Untoward\_Parable](#): > > I wouldn’t be that surprised if it were true, people that study economics and business tend to be selfish pricks obviously. Take this sort of partisan nonsense to The BBQ Pit. It does nothing to move this particular discussion forward. [/Moderating] ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2011, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/study-says-the-more-you-lean-left-the-less-you-know-about-economics/538643/228 "2011-11-27T03:27:02Z")
> [@tomndebb](#): > > Take this sort of partisan nonsense to The BBQ Pit. Is bashing studying business & economics “partisan” though? I mean, unless someone wants to argue that they are somehow innately Republican or Democrat, bashing studying them doesn’t seem like it qualifies as partisan. It seems more an anti-intellectual stance than anything. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2011, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/study-says-the-more-you-lean-left-the-less-you-know-about-economics/538643/229 "2011-11-27T04:00:25Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > Is bashing studying business & economics “partisan” though? I mean, unless someone wants to argue that they are somehow innately Republican or Democrat, bashing studying them doesn’t seem like it qualifies as partisan. It seems more an anti-intellectual stance than anything. Regardless, that sort of bashing does nothing to promote a good discussion. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2011, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/study-says-the-more-you-lean-left-the-less-you-know-about-economics/538643/230 "2011-11-27T04:16:56Z")
> [@tomndebb](#): > > Regardless, that sort of bashing does nothing to promote a good discussion. I wasn’t arguing with the modding (or I’d have posted my comment in ATMB); I just found “partisan” an odd way to characterize it. ---
**Author:** ![Untoward\_Parable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/51bf81/32.png) [@Untoward\_Parable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Untoward_Parable)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2011, 7:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/study-says-the-more-you-lean-left-the-less-you-know-about-economics/538643/231 "2011-11-27T07:46:19Z")
> [@tomndebb](#): > > Regardless, that sort of bashing does nothing to promote a good discussion. Had no partisan meaning, if anyone thinks being pro-elite, pro-business, pro-corporate, keenly interested in money and how to get more is limited to republicans I hate to break your bubble here.. As far as being to ugly for sensitive eyes I’ll rephrase: I think people who are very much interested in economics tend to be because they went to business school or into business and that people who tend to go to business school or into business tend more than the rest of the population to be self centered(Hey I’m sure if you’re their buddy or progeny they’ll avoid stepping on you for the most part). If you ask these people I think they will for the most part tell you the same thing though they may phrase it in a deflective way depending on whether they’re trying to be endearing to you morally or for cool points, the latter may even exaggerate how cutthroat they are.. May. ---
**Author:** ![Throatwarbler\_Mangrove](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8c91f0/32.png) [@Throatwarbler\_Mangrove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Throatwarbler_Mangrove)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2011, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/study-says-the-more-you-lean-left-the-less-you-know-about-economics/538643/232 "2011-11-27T22:48:27Z")
This study sure says a lot about what conservatives actually believe. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/study-says-the-more-you-lean-left-the-less-you-know-about-economics/538643.md?page=11)