Does Enclave Deliberation Polarize Opinions?

How Deliberation Affects Policy Opinions

Theorists argue that deliberation promotes enlightenment and consensus, but scholars do not know how deliberation affects policy opinions. Using the deliberative democracy and public opinion literatures as a guide, I develop a theory of opinion updating where citizens who deliberate revise their prior beliefs, particularly when they encounter consensual messages. A key aspect of this model is t...

Does democratic deliberation change minds?

Discussion is frequently observed in democratic politics, but change in view is rarely observed. Call this the ‘unchanging minds hypothesis’. I assume that a given belief or desire is not isolated, but, rather, is located in a network structure of attitudes, such that persuasion sufficient to change an attitude in isolation is not sufficient to change the attitude as supported by its network. T...

The Integrative Enclave

NORC Data Enclave

Launched in 2006, the NORC Data Enclave provides a confidential, protected environment within which authorized researchers can access sensitive microdata remotely. While public-use data can be disseminated in a variety of ways, fewer options exist for sharing sensitive microdata that have not been fully de-identified for public use. Some data producers have sufficient economies of scale to deve...

Does Impartial Deliberation Breed Fair Behavior? an Experimental Test

We experimentally test whether impartial deliberation leads to stronger concern for fairness in bargaining. In the experiment a seller can invest some of his/her time in order to generate potential gains from trade with a buyer. Conditional on investment the seller proposes how to split the gain. The buyer either accepts or rejects the seller's offer. To vary the degree of impartiality, subject...