Economic ideology is measured through paired pro- and anti-business statements

Evidence

Anything that government agencies can do, private enterprise can do better because competition has made it much more efficient. … Labor unions should be encouraged. They have established the rights of workers and raised their standard of living in a way that the whole country has benefitted. … Governments should run a debt when necessary to create jobs and protect our social programs. … The more government interferes with private enterprise and tries to regulate it, the worse things will get in our country. … The government should intervene in our economy to produce greater equality for disadvantaged groups in our country. … Public agencies should be run like businesses: no waste, no “bleeding hearts,” and no deficits. … There should be higher taxes on businesses in this country. … Governments should sell all their operations (“privatize”) that businesses want to run. … The wealth of our country should be spread out much more evenly; right now, too much is owned by too few. … Governments should be forced by law to have balanced budgets. Otherwise they just throw money away on worthless causes. … Government-created jobs are usually “do nothing” jobs that cost the taxpayers millions. … People who say we should run governments the way businesses are run forget how many companies fail. The private sector makes as many mistakes as public officials do. … The best way to solve the government’s deficit problem is to cut back on our expensive social programs, which spend money as if it grows on trees. … We should run governments, as always, as public institutions, not like businesses. Governments have to be fair, merciful, and concerned with everyone’s welfare. … Only business can create wealth. Governments just spend what others have earned. … If we let private enterprise take over (“privatize”) lots of government programs, the poor and the public will be the big losers. Companies do not care about the public good. … People should be willing to pay higher taxes to protect our medical programs, education, and the unemployed. … Labor unions only hold us back, making us less efficient. — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 968

Categorization

• DEFINE: This is an item pool used to measure economic conservatism and egalitarianism, with paired statements where participants likely rate agreement.
• XREF: Connects to the economic philosophy scales in similar political psychology instruments like Jost’s system justification work on laissez-faire ideology.