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Do generations growing up during recessions have different socio-economic beliefs than generations growing up in good times? We study the relationship between recessions and beliefs by matching macroeconomic shocks during early adulthood with self-reported answers from the General Social Survey. Using time and regional variations in macroeconomic conditions to identify the effect of recessions on beliefs, we show that individuals growing up during recessions tend to believe that success in life depends more on luck than on effort, support more government redistribution, but are less confident in public institutions. Moreover, we find that recessions have a long-lasting effect on individuals’ beliefs.
I’d be curious to compare the effect of recessions with the effect of war and foreign conflict on the political beliefs of the young. Sheldon Solomon and colleagues, for instance, have looked at how our political beliefs can be shifted when people are primed with different thoughts. To make a long story short, thoughts of death and war tend to make us more conservative, while thoughts of pain and suffering make us more liberal.
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