AEA Papers and Proceedings
ISSN 2574-0768 (Print) | ISSN 2574-0776 (Online)
Emotional Tagging and Belief Formation: The Long-Lasting Effects of Experiencing Communism
AEA Papers and Proceedings
vol. 109,
May 2019
(pp. 567–71)
Abstract
Growing evidence in macrofinance suggests long-lasting effects of personally experienced outcomes on beliefs. To understand the underlying mechanism we turn to the neurological foundations of memory formation. We propose that emotional tagging plays a crucial role in assigning weights in the belief formation process. We use exposure to communism as well as variation in its emotional tagging to predict long-run beliefs. We show that living under communism has long-term effects on beliefs about its benefits. In addition, positive and negative emotional tags strongly affect the (pro- or anti-communist) direction of beliefs, providing anchors to memory that seem hard to reverse.Citation
Laudenbach, Christine, Ulrike Malmendier, and Alexandra Niessen-Ruenzi. 2019. "Emotional Tagging and Belief Formation: The Long-Lasting Effects of Experiencing Communism." AEA Papers and Proceedings, 109: 567–71. DOI: 10.1257/pandp.20191051Additional Materials
JEL Classification
- D83 Search; Learning; Information and Knowledge; Communication; Belief; Unawareness
- P20 Socialist Systems and Transitional Economies: General