Zero-sum thinking and the roots of U.S. political differences

Chinoy, Sahil, Nunn, Nathan, Sequeira, Sandra ORCID: 0000-0001-8831-6736 and Stantcheva, Stefanie (2025) Zero-sum thinking and the roots of U.S. political differences. American Economic Review. ISSN 0002-8282 (In Press)

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Abstract

We investigate the origins and implications of zero-sum thinking: the belief that gains for one individual or group tend to come at the cost of others. Using a new survey of 20,400 U.S. residents, we measure zero-sum thinking, political preferences, policy views, and a rich array of ancestral information spanning four generations. We find that a more zero-sum mindset is strongly associated with more support for government redistribution, race- and genderbased affirmative action, and more restrictive immigration policies. Zero-sum thinking can be traced back to the experiences of both the individual and their ancestors, encompassing factors such as the degree of intergenerational upward mobility they experienced, whether they immigrated to the United States or lived in a location with more immigrants, and whether they were enslaved or lived in a location with more enslavement.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	©
Divisions:	International Development
JEL classification:	N - Economic History > N1 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics; Growth and Fluctuations > N10 - General, International, or Comparative Q - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics > Q5 - Environmental Economics > Q54 - Climate; Natural Disasters
Date Deposited:	28 Jul 2025 11:42
Last Modified:	28 Jul 2025 11:42
URI:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/128930

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