Abstract
This article examines how public concern about different social problems changes over time in response to fluctuations in problem severity. Examining time series of concern and objective severity for nine different problems, both graphically and econometrically, we address three main questions. First, how closely does concern track fluctuations in problem severity? Second, what psychological processes mediate the relationship between concern and problem severity? Finally, what factor(s) distinguish between problems for which tracking is accurate and inaccurate?
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We thank Phillip Braun, Jean Brook-Gunn, William Lang, Mark Machina, Nachum Sicherman, Eric Wanner, Victor Zarnowitz, Mike Ziolkowski, and Christopher Henderson and the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia for data, comments, and suggestions. Amy McCready's superb research assistance is also gratefully acknowledged. This research was supported by grants from the Russell Sage Foundation, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, and the IBM Faculty Research Fund at the University of Chicago to the first author.
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Loewenstein, G., Mather, J. Dynamic processes in risk perception. J Risk Uncertainty 3, 155–175 (1990). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00056370
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00056370