Are preferences for reforms driven by individuals' own endowments or beliefs? To address this question, we conducted a cross-country survey on people's opinions on employment protection legislation-an area where reform has proven to be difficult and personal interests are at stake. We find that...

Firms often discourage certain categories of individuals from buying their products, seemingly at odds with typical assumptions about profit maximization. This paper provides a potential rationale for such firm behavior: Consumers seek to signal that they have "desirable" ideological values to...