Economics Research Community Seminar- Dr Tom Lane

Title: The Normative Permissiveness of Political Partyism

Date:  25 October 2023

Time: 13:00-14:00

Location: NUBS.4.25

If you would like to attend, please register using the following link:

The Normative Permissiveness of Political Partyism

Speaker: Dr Tom Lane

Tom Lane joined Newcastle University Business School in September 2023 as a senior lecturer specialising mostly in behavioural and experimental economics. Previously, he was assistant professor at the University of Nottingham Ningbo China from 2018-2023. He was awarded a PhD in behavioural economics in 2017 by the University of Nottingham, where he conducted his research within the world-leading behavioural economics research centre CeDEx, of which he also became local director for its China branch from 2019-2023. Tom’s research has been published in leading journals such as the American Economic Review, European Economic Review, Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, Journal of Public Economics and Oxford Economic Papers. I use a variety of experimental and non-experimental methods to study a range of topics across economics and touching upon related social sciences

Abstract

Political party identity has become one of the strongest social divides within many Western societies. This paper employs experiments to measure discrimination along different dimensions of social identity, and replicates previous findings showing the strongest discrimination against out-groups occurs in the political party domain. Moreover, we explore a possible explanation for this phenomenon based on social norms. We measure the social appropriateness of discrimination along each identity dimension. The ranking of dimensions by discrimination against out-groups reflects the extent to which such behaviour is normatively permissible, with the weakest anti-discrimination norms on the political party dimension. Results are qualitatively similar in two European countries. We argue that, while strong norms sanctioning discrimination on other dimensions have developed historically, no such process has taken place concerning party affiliation, bringing partisan identity to the fore and helping polarisation flourish.