ENDOGENOUS PREFERENCES AND THE STUDY OF INSTITUTIONS

The assumption that individual preferences, or attitudes, are fixed an d exogenously determined is central to many studies of political and e conomic institutions, such as markets and elections. We present a Baye sian model of adaptive preferences and empirical evidence consistent w ith that model to argue that preferences are not always exogenous and fixed. The changing relationships between partisanship and preferences on civil rights issues between 1956 and 1964 and on the Vietnam War i ssue between 1968 and 1972 coincide with significant changes in the ma jor parties' positions on these issues, suggesting that preferences ar e endogenous to the electoral process. We conclude with a discussion o f the positive and normative implications of endogenous preferences.