Preference Falsification - What Did We See Before the Wall Came Down?

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Temor has studied societies with widespread preference falsification. The phenomenon can be hard to spot, because people don't go round waving a flag saying that they are falsifying their preferences. One way to spot it is when one regime comes to an end and a new one suddenly springs up in its place. That's what happened in east germany in 19 89 when the berlin war came down. Thousands of east germans came across the border to day - so many that border police lost count.

We all self-censor at times. We keep quiet at dinner with our in-laws, or nod passively in a work meeting. But what happens when we take this deception a step further, and pretend we believe the opposite of what we really feel? In this favorite episode from 2020, economist and political scientist Timur Kuran explains how our personal, professional and political lives are shaped by the fear of what other people think.

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