Melissa Sands

Public policies create winners and losers. This can generate policy feedback loops: The economic and social impacts of a policy may shape the political behavior of those who experience its costs or benefits, reinforcing or undermining its political fortunes (Pierson, 1993; Soss & Schram, 2007). Yet, the policy ecosystem is composed of not just direct beneficiaries, but also those whose circumstances are shaped by externalities.

Abstract Here, using publicly available traffic camera feeds in combination with a real-world field experiment, we examine how pedestrians of different races behave in the presence of racial out-group members. Across two different New York City neighbourhoods and 3,552 pedestrians, we generate an unobtrusive, large-scale measure of inter-group racial avoidance by measuring the distance individuals maintain between themselves and other racial groups.

Abstract Psychological research shows that social comparison of individuals with peers or others shapes attitude formation1,2. Opportunities for such comparisons have increased with global inequality3,4; everyday experiences can make economic disparities more salient through signals of social class5,6. Here we show that, among individuals with a lower socioeconomic status, such local exposure to inequality drives support for the redistribution of wealth.