Replication Data for: Learning to Love Government? Technological Change and the Political Economy of Higher Education

Why do voters have divergent beliefs about the role of government in solving social problems? We study this question in the context of skill-biased technological change and investment in higher education. We document that the negative income consequences of technological change are, descriptively, mitigated in US counties with greater levels of higher education investment. We show that exposure to these conditions is, in turn, correlated with greater public support for higher education spending. We conclude that higher education investments are productive. However, we also find evidence consistent with the idea that whether people in a community learn the benefits of higher education spending depends on what they believed to begin with. Learning is history dependent. In a context where higher education spending dampens the negative employment effects of technological change, a history of believing that education is productive may advantage local communities in learning the true productivity of higher education investments.

为何选民对政府在解决社会问题中应扮演的角色存在认知分歧？我们以技能偏向型技术变革（skill-biased technological change）与高等教育投资为研究语境，对这一问题展开探讨。我们通过描述性分析发现，技术变革带来的负向收入后果，在高等教育投资水平更高的美国各县中得到了缓解。我们还发现，身处这类环境中的个体，其对高等教育支出的公共支持意愿与该环境存在显著相关性。我们据此得出结论：高等教育投资具有生产效益。不过，我们也找到了支持下述观点的证据：社区民众能否认知到高等教育支出的益处，取决于其初始固有信念。学习过程具有历史依赖性。在高等教育支出能够削弱技术变革对就业的负面影响的背景下，若当地民众此前便认定教育具有生产效益，这或将帮助本地社区更准确地理解高等教育投资的真实效益。