Reality versus propaganda in the formation of beliefs about privatization

Argentina privatized most public utilities during the 1990s but re-nationalized the main water company in 2006. We study beliefs about the benefits of the privatization of water services measured immediately after the 2006 nationalization. Negative opinions about privatization prevail. We find that...

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Autores principales: Di Tella, Rafael, Galiani, Sebastián, Schargrodsky, Ernesto
Formato: Documento de trabajo
Lenguaje:Inglés
Publicado: National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) 2025
Materias:
Creencias
Beliefs
Privatización
Privatization
Propaganda
Persuasion
Política Económica
Economic Policy
Acceso en línea:https://repositorio.utdt.edu/handle/20.500.13098/13358
Aporte de:
Repositorio Digital Universidad Torcuato Di Tella de Universidad Torcuato Di Tella
id I57-R163-20.500.13098-13358
record_format dspace
spelling I57-R163-20.500.13098-133582025-04-07T23:56:57Z Reality versus propaganda in the formation of beliefs about privatization Di Tella, Rafael Galiani, Sebastián Schargrodsky, Ernesto Creencias Beliefs Privatización Privatization Propaganda Persuasion Política Económica Economic Policy Argentina privatized most public utilities during the 1990s but re-nationalized the main water company in 2006. We study beliefs about the benefits of the privatization of water services measured immediately after the 2006 nationalization. Negative opinions about privatization prevail. We find that “reality” can change beliefs: people who had first-hand experience observing the investments made by the privatized company have a better opinion of water privatization (relative to other privatizations) than people who did not gain access to water. The effect, while statistically significant, seems small adding only 0.8 points on a 1–10 scale. Moreover, the effect of priming subjects with government propaganda against privatization has an effect that almost offsets the effect of gaining water. However, our evidence suggests that the presence of firm investments makes beliefs about the benefits of privatization less susceptible to be affected by propaganda. National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) 2025-04-04T19:04:56Z 2008-11 info:eu-repo/semantics/workingPaper https://repositorio.utdt.edu/handle/20.500.13098/13358 eng Working Paper 14483 http://www.nber.org/papers/w14483 Argentina info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/deed.es 35 p. application/pdf application/pdf
institution Universidad Torcuato Di Tella
institution_str I-57
repository_str R-163
collection Repositorio Digital Universidad Torcuato Di Tella
language Inglés
orig_language_str_mv eng
topic Creencias
Beliefs
Privatización
Privatization
Propaganda
Persuasion
Política Económica
Economic Policy
spellingShingle Creencias
Beliefs
Privatización
Privatization
Propaganda
Persuasion
Política Económica
Economic Policy
Di Tella, Rafael
Galiani, Sebastián
Schargrodsky, Ernesto
Reality versus propaganda in the formation of beliefs about privatization
topic_facet Creencias
Beliefs
Privatización
Privatization
Propaganda
Persuasion
Política Económica
Economic Policy
description Argentina privatized most public utilities during the 1990s but re-nationalized the main water company in 2006. We study beliefs about the benefits of the privatization of water services measured immediately after the 2006 nationalization. Negative opinions about privatization prevail. We find that “reality” can change beliefs: people who had first-hand experience observing the investments made by the privatized company have a better opinion of water privatization (relative to other privatizations) than people who did not gain access to water. The effect, while statistically significant, seems small adding only 0.8 points on a 1–10 scale. Moreover, the effect of priming subjects with government propaganda against privatization has an effect that almost offsets the effect of gaining water. However, our evidence suggests that the presence of firm investments makes beliefs about the benefits of privatization less susceptible to be affected by propaganda.
format Documento de trabajo
author Di Tella, Rafael
Galiani, Sebastián
Schargrodsky, Ernesto
author_facet Di Tella, Rafael
Galiani, Sebastián
Schargrodsky, Ernesto
author_sort Di Tella, Rafael
title Reality versus propaganda in the formation of beliefs about privatization
title_short Reality versus propaganda in the formation of beliefs about privatization
title_full Reality versus propaganda in the formation of beliefs about privatization
title_fullStr Reality versus propaganda in the formation of beliefs about privatization
title_full_unstemmed Reality versus propaganda in the formation of beliefs about privatization
title_sort reality versus propaganda in the formation of beliefs about privatization
publisher National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)
publishDate 2025
url https://repositorio.utdt.edu/handle/20.500.13098/13358
work_keys_str_mv AT ditellarafael realityversuspropagandaintheformationofbeliefsaboutprivatization
AT galianisebastian realityversuspropagandaintheformationofbeliefsaboutprivatization
AT schargrodskyernesto realityversuspropagandaintheformationofbeliefsaboutprivatization
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