working papers

2026

1. Toward Measuring Individual Freedom as a Multidimensional Construct Ben-Porath, N., U. Böckenholt, N. Persico, and J. Spenkuch [Abstract] [PDF]

   This project conceptualizes individual freedom as a multidimensional construct with three components: autonomy, capabilities, and non-domination. We develop a novel survey instrument to measure these dimensions at the individual level and administer it to a sample of respondents from the online platform Prolific. This research note presents the core version of the survey instrument and reports initial evidence from the pilot study, including psychometric validation.

2. Personnel is Policy: Delegation and Political Misalignment in the Rulemaking Process Bellodi, L., M. Morelli, J. Spenkuch, E. Teso, M. Vannoni, and G. Xu [Abstract] [PDF]

   We combine comprehensive data on the rulemaking activities of the U.S. federal government with individual-level personnel and voter registration records to study delegation and principal-agent frictions in the development of new regulations. We present three main results. First, even important pieces of new regulation are frequently delegated to career bureaucrats who are politically misaligned with the president. Second, rules that are overseen by misaligned regulators take systematically longer to complete, are more verbose, generate more negative feedback from the public, and are more likely to be challenged in court. Third, in assigning regulators to rules, agency leaders often face a sharp trade-off between political alignment and expertise. Agency frictions notwithstanding, they tend to resolve this trade-off in favor of expertise.

3. Memory and Partial Consideration in Choice Salant, Y., J. Spenkuch, and D. Almog [Abstract] [PDF]

   We propose that memory guides choice behavior in unfamiliar environments by shaping which alternatives decision-makers consider. In our model, individuals preferentially consider in-memory alternatives over out-of-memory ones. This mechanism generates a "memory premium," whereby decision-makers disproportionately choose in-memory options, even when they are objectively inferior. Our theory also predicts a "memory speedup." Conditional on being chosen, in-memory alternatives are selected more quickly than out-of-memory ones. We test and confirm these predictions in a unique observational data set and a tightly controlled laboratory experiment. Taken together, our findings point to a role for memory in choice that goes beyond the subjective evaluation of alternatives.

2025

1. A Different World: Enduring Effects of School Desegregation on Ideology and Attitudes Kaplan, E., J. Spenkuch, and C. Tuttle [Abstract] [PDF]

   In 1975, a federal court ordered the desegregation of public schools in Jefferson County, KY. In order to approximately equalize the share of minorities across schools, students were assigned to a busing schedule that depended on the first letter of their last name. We use the resulting quasi-random variation to estimate the long-run impact of attending an inner-city school on political participation and preferences among whites. Drawing on administrative voter registration records and an original survey, we find that being bused to an inner-city school significantly increases support for the Democratic Party and its candidates more than forty years later. Consistent with the idea that exposure to an inner-city environment causes a permanent change in ideological outlook, we also find evidence that bused individuals are much less likely to believe in a "just world" (i.e., that success is earned rather than attributable to luck) and, more tentatively, that they become more supportive of some forms of redistribution. Taken together, our findings point to a poverty-centered version of the contact hypothesis, whereby witnessing economic deprivation durably sensitizes individuals to issues of inequality and fairness.

2. From the Classroom to the Ballot Box: Turnout and Partisan Consequences of Education Kaplan, E., J. Spenkuch, and C. Tuttle [Abstract] [PDF]

   We estimate the impact of education on voter turnout and partisanship using a regression discontinuity design based on school-entry cutoffs and exact date of birth. Drawing on nationwide administrative voter registration data, we find that individuals who were slotted to enter school one year earlier are more likely to vote and more likely to register as independents. These reduced-form effects may be driven by changes in educational attainment or by differences in the quality of individuals’ educational experiences. We leverage age-related heterogeneity in effect sizes to isolate the role of educational attainment. Our results imply that an additional year of schooling increases turnout by about 3 percentage points.