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Much has been written about whether aversion to biotechnology and GMOs has ideological dimensions rooted in the left. . . . However, as I previously argued:
“One distinction, which I think is missing, is the greater willingness of those on the left to regulate on economic issues, such as GMOs, than those on the right. . . . Even if the left and the right agreed on the level of risk, I don’t think we should expect agreement on political action.”
Perhaps the clearest demonstration of this difference in willingness to regulate comes from a new paper by John Bovay and Julian Alston in the Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics. They look at precinct-level voting data on the Prop 37 mandatory labeling initiative in California in 2012. One of the best predictors of support for Prop 37? The share of people in the precinct voting for Obama. Here’s a telling graph from their paper. It’s an almost perfect positive, linear relationship.
Read full, original post: Support for GMO Labeling A Left-wing Phenomenon?
