Workshop

Many societal challenges require the use of economic instruments aimed at changing people's (and firms') behavior. Identifying such economic instruments, including their optimal level of stringency, and evaluating their (cost-)effectiveness is one of economists' main tasks. However, economists are increasing realizing that examining the functioning of policies, ex ante or, whenever possible, ex post, may represent the easy part. Getting the general public and policymakers to support these policies, even if very well founded, is often the hard part. Hence, economic research also has the role of examining the general public's understanding of policies and how it may affect public support. While the study of public support might have originally been mostly the prerogative of political scientists and social psychologists, economists can also contribute and accelerate the creation of scientific knowledge, given their expertise in economic policies. Economists also have a deep interest in understanding the general public's understanding of the economy, societal problems, and corresponding solutions. Understanding people's understanding and support may prevent the dismissal of some socially desirable policies as inevitably unpopular.

Accordingly, In 2023, the first edition of the workshop on People's Understanding of and Support for Economic Policies took place in Venice, Italy, as a CESifo Summer Institute (organized with Klaus Schmidt, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich). In 2025, the second edition of the workshop took place as the CEPR Workshop on People's Understanding of and Support for Economic Policies, in St. Gallen, Switzerland (organized with Paolo Piacquadio, University of St. Gallen, and Klaus Schmidt, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich). The list of speakers for these two editions is as follows: