Politics of Food: An Experiment on Trust in Expert Regulation and Economic Costs of Political Polarisation
通过实地实验发现，当监管机构被认为由对立党派控制时，公众对科学评估的信任下降，反对政策支持率降低，并增加对对立非政府组织的捐赠，但实际消费行为未受显著影响。
Abstract Rising polarisation heightens concerns about politicising regulatory agencies, prompting reassessment of the accountability–independence trade-off. We study whether perceived out-group oversight affects trust in regulation and market behaviour. Using US television transcripts, we show that media link agencies with presidents. We then conduct a field experiment (N=5,566) using a case where the EPA endorsed antibiotic spraying on citrus crops during both Trump’s and Biden’s presidencies. Holding science constant, out-group oversight reduces support for spraying by 26%, lowers trust in EPA’s evaluation, and increases donations to an opposing NGO by 15%. In an obfuscated follow-up, citrus demand is unchanged, but effects differ by consumption habits.