False beliefs about natural, health, economic and social issues are pervasive in society. Many persist even when contradicted by scientific evidence. Some examples are the beliefs that vaccines cause autism, that GM foods are not safe, or negation of climate change. Research in cognitive psychology shows that this behavior is related to several cognitive biases that affect the human mind. Consequently, dispelling misconceptions may be hard, even after exposure to sound information. Indeed, evidence shows that college level students stick to false previous beliefs on economic issues after a semester-long exposure to an economic principles course, independently of grade performance.

In this paper we report on the results of field and lab experiments designed to investigate the ability of a particular communication strategy, the refutation text, to reduce a widespread economic misconception: the belief that rent controls make housing available to more people. The refutation text explicitly states that a given belief is a misconceptions, provides data and arguments contradicting it, and shows the negative consequences of holding the false belief. This type of text has been used in psychology and other fields but not in economics, to the best of our knowledge. The field experiment is conducted using two cohorts of college students enrolled in an introductory economics course. Two surveys are conducted, one at the beginning and the second at the end of the semester, to obtain students’ beliefs. The control cohort is exposed to a standard lecture on price controls, while the treatment cohort is exposed to the refutation text. Using Angrist and Pischke’s (2009) approach, we find that the intervention has a statistically significant impact on the previously held misconception, inducing a belief change aligned with expert reasoning and evidence.

We then take the field to the lab in order to obtain additional insights about the workings of the refutation text. We ask four questions: i) do field results replicate in a different environment? ii) do some particular cognitive factors affect the change of beliefs? iii) does individual or group reading of the refutation text affect results? and iv) are short-run and long-run effects different? In the lab experiment we use a control group and two treatment groups, one where the refutation text is read individually and a second one where it is discussed in small groups. Questionnaires include a cognitive reflection test and a Wason task. Preliminary results show that the refutation text reduces the misconception also in the lab.