%0 Report
        %A Hermes, Henning
%A Lergetporer, Philipp
%A Mierisch, Fabian
%A Schwerdt, Guido
%A Wiederhold, Simon
        %T Does Information about Inequality and Discrimination in Early Child Care Affect Policy Preferences?
        %D 2024
        %8 2024 Jan
        %I Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)
        %C Bonn
        %7 IZA Discussion Paper
        %N 16759
        %U https://www.iza.org/publications/dp16759
        %X We investigate public preferences for equity-enhancing policies in access to early child care, using a survey experiment with a representative sample of the German population (n ≈ 4, 800). We observe strong misperceptions about migrant-native inequalities in early child care that vary by respondents' age and right-wing voting preferences. Randomly providing information about the actual extent of inequalities has a nuanced impact on the support for equity-enhancing policy reforms: it increases support for respondents who initially underestimated these inequalities, and tends to decrease support for those who initially overestimated them. This asymmetric effect leads to a more consensual policy view, substantially decreasing the polarization in policy support between under- and overestimators. Our results suggest that correcting misperceptions can align public policy preferences, potentially leading to less polarized debates about how to address inequalities and discrimination.
        %K discrimination
%K inequality
%K information
%K policy support
%K child care
%K survey experiment