Who Said or What Said? Estimating Ideological Bias in Views Among Economists

There exists a long-standing debate about the influence of ideology in economics. Surprisingly, however, there is no concrete empirical evidence to examine this critical issue. Using an online randomized controlled experiment involving economists in 19 countries, we examine the effect of ideological bias on views among economists. Participants were asked to evaluate statements from prominent economists on different topics, while source attribution for each statement was randomized without participants’ knowledge. For each statement, participants either received a mainstream source, an ideologically different less-/non-mainstream source, or no source. We find that changing source attributions from mainstream to less-/non-mainstream, or removing them, significantly reduces economists’ reported agreement with statements. Using a model of Bayesian updating we examine two competing hypotheses as potential explanations for these results: unbiased Bayesian updating versus ideologically-biased Bayesian updating. While we find no evidence in support of unbiased updating, our results are consistent with biased Bayesian updating. More specifically, we find that changing/removing sources (1) has no impact on economists’ reported confidence with their evaluations; (2) similarly affects experts/non-experts in relevant areas; and (3) affects those at the far right of the political spectrum much more significantly than those at the far left. Finally, we find significant heterogeneity in our results by gender, country, PhD completion country, research area, and undergraduate major, with patterns consistent with the existence of ideological bias

Adsorção de fibronectina a arcabouços de polihidroxibutirato aplicáveis à engenharia óssea Adsorption of fibronectin onto polyhydroxybutyrate scaffolds applied to bone engineering

Fibronectina sérica humana foi adicionada à superfície de arcabouços de polihidroxibutirato (PHB) a fim de otimizar a adesão de osteoblastos humanos (HOB). Visando a criar sítios para a imobilização de fibronectina (FN), os arcabouços foram previamente tratados por meio de reação com etilenodiamina. O tratamento modificou a morfologia e a composição química dos arcabouços, possibilitando um aumento no teor de FN adsorvido à superfície. Imagens de AFM mostraram que as moléculas de FN assumiram conformações distintas, de acordo com a superfície na qual foi imobilizada. A FN adicionada aos arcabouços não modificados possivelmente assumiu uma conformação estendida, expondo os grupamentos RGD. Com isso, houve um aumento na adesão de HOB a estes materiais. Por outro lado, a FN na superfície dos arcabouços previamente tratados possivelmente apresentou-se na forma compacta, suprimindo a adesão de HOB.<br>Human plasma fibronectin (FN) was adsorbed onto the surface of polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB) scaffolds with aim of improving adhesion of human osteoblasts (HOB). PHB scaffolds were modified via reaction with ethylenediamine in order to create sites for FN immobilization. Morphological and chemical composition changes were observed for treated scaffolds which led to an increase in the concentration of FN adsorbed onto scaffold surfaces. AFM images showed that FN molecules assumed distinct conformation according to the surface to which they were adsorbed. It is believed that the FN molecules added to non-treated scaffolds assumed an unfolded conformational owing to the exposure of their RGD domains, thus promoting an increased HOB adhesion. On the other hand, FN molecules which were added to the surface of previously treated scaffolds are believed to have assumed a folded conformation, hiding some RGD domains and inhibiting HOB adhesion