Lay people's cognitive models of the economy

Abstract

Our understanding of lay people's thoughts about the economy relies heavily on interpretations (and sometimes misinterpretations) of responses to specific questions. In this study, one open-ended question was asked, and only simple cues were provided, in each of 95 individual interviews. The dialogue from each interview was measured in terms of how much each person said, how variables were linked and what was said. The outcome was 95 unique cognitive models. Despite the differences between them, there were some broad areas of agreement which were reinforced by questionnaire responses, and in general, individuals described the economy by integrating economic, social, psychological and moral issues. In some respects, previous research findings, suggesting that lay people know very little about fiscal issues, were confirmed; however, the cognitive models showed that lay people did seem to understand the connection between government revenue and expenditure, even though questionnaire responses suggested otherwise.