Growing Up in a Recession: Beliefs and the Macroeconomy

By Paola Giuliano, A. Spilimbergo. Social Science Research Network, 2009

207 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Do generations growing up during recessions have different socio-economic beliefs than generations growing up in good times? We study the relationship between recessions and beliefs by matching macroeconomic shocks during early adulthood with self-reported answers from the General Social Survey. Using time and regional variations in macroeconomic conditions to identify the effect of recessions on beliefs, we show that individuals growing up during recessions tend to believe that success in life depends more on luck than on effort, support more government redistribution, but are less confident in public institutions. Moreover, we find that recessions have a long-lasting effect on individuals' beliefs.

Subfields: Demography, Sociology and Political Science

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/3a09dda7178a11ac1fe2d42d3e731c1fd1388d2f

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Citations in the corpus

Youth Unemployment in Europe and the United States (2011, background): “Research by Giuliano and Spilimbergo (2009) suggests that the period of early adulthood (between 18 and 25) seems to be the age range during which people are more sensitive to macroeconomic conditions.”
Millennials at Work: What We Know and What We Need to Do (If Anything) (2010, background): “Giuliano and Spilimbergo (2009) found that cohorts that experience a recession during their impressionable years (18–25 years of age) are more likely to believe that individual success is a result of luck more than hard work and subsequently have less confidence in the efficacy of government.”
Memories of High Inflation (2012, methodology): “For instance, Stevenson and Wolfers (2008) and Layard (2008) have analyzed the relationship of happiness and economic growth; Guiso et al. (2003) use it to investigate the effect of religion on economic attitudes, and Georgarakos and Pasini (2009) employ the data on trust contained in the WVS to und”
Young People and the Great Recession (2011, background): “Giuliano and Spilimbergo (2009) suggest that the period of early adulthood (between 18 and 25) seems to be the age range during which people are more sensitive to macroeconomic conditions.”
Culture and the Historical Process (2012, background): “Giuliano and Spilimbergo ( 2009 ) also consider the impact of childhood experience on adult beliefs, but focus on beliefs about whether good outcomes are primarily determined by luck rather than by hard work.”
Seeds of distrust: conflict in Uganda (2012, background): “Different aspects of the relationship between trust and growth are studied by Algan and Cahuc (2010) and Giuliano and Spilimbergo (2009).”
UK Unemployment in the Great Recession (2010, background): “R14 NATIONAL INSTITUTE ECONOMIC REVIEW No. 214 OCTOBER 2010 Work by Giuliano and Spilimbergo (2009) suggests that the period of early adulthood (between 18 and 25) seems to be the age range during which people are more sensitive to macroeconomic conditions.”
ENERGY CONSERVATION “NUDGES” AND ENVIRONMENTALIST IDEOLOGY: EVIDENCE FROM A RANDOMIZED RESIDENTIAL ELECTRICITY FIELD EXPERIMENT (2010, unknown): “We find that the effectiveness of energy conservation “nudges” depends on an individual’s ideology.”