Purpose of the Website
Ever wondered why people see the same issue so differently? This platform helps you understand zero-sum thinkingโa mindset that shapes how we view politics, policy, and social change. Whether you're a student, educator, policymaker, or curious citizen, this site offers evidence-based insights into one of the most important divides in contemporary society.
About the Research
This website translates the empirical findings of "Zero-Sum Thinking and the Roots of U.S. Political Divides" (forthcoming in the American Economic Review) by Sahil Chinoy, Nathan Nunn, Sandra Sequeira, and Stefanie Stantcheva into an interactive educational platformโcombining conceptual explanation, data visualization, and self-assessment while maintaining academic rigor and transparency.
Explore the Platform
Navigate through different dimensions of zero-sum thinking:
Basics
Core concepts through interactive mini-games and animated explanations
Visualize
Demographic patterns, policy correlations, and geographic distributions
Test Yourself
Answer questions and compare yourself to national benchmarks
About
Research team, methodology, and academic foundations
The Basics
Learn about zero-sum thinking through examples, gaming, and a video
Understanding the Concept
The belief that gains for one individual or group tend to come at the cost of others.
A Simple Example: The Pie/Pizza
Imagine a pie shared by two groups:
Fixed pie size
๐ด Zero-sum thinking
The size of the pie never changes. If one group gets a larger slice, the other must get a smaller one.
Pie can grow
๐ข Positive-sum thinking
The pie itself can grow. Both groups can end up with larger slices, even if the shares are not equal.
Pie shrinks
๐ Negative-sum thinking
The pie shrinks through conflict or poor decisions. Both groups end up with less than they started with.
Common Examples in Debate
Zero-sum thinking often appears in debates about:
Jobs
One group gets more jobs โ others lose out
Trade
One country gains โ another is harmed
Immigration
Immigrant gains reduce citizen opportunities
Income & Wealth
Some get richer โ others must get poorer
Education
Quality resources for some โ less for others
Climate Action
Environment vs economic development tradeoff
Why do people adopt zero-sum thinking?
- Visibility bias: Immediate losses are easier to see than gradual gains
- Group identity: "Us vs. them" framing shifts focus to relative outcomes
- Uncertainty: People assume fixed resources when the future is unclear
- Media framing: Conflicts are often presented as zero-sum competitions
Mini game (2-minute intuition demo)
A fixed market with 100 customers. What you gain, your competitor loses. Play as many rounds as you want to experience the zero-sum mindset.
Capture market share from a fixed pool of 100 customers. Every customer you gain is one they lose.
Experience how zero-sum vs. positive-sum mindsets lead to different outcomes and consequences.
Play at your own pace. Stop whenever you want.
Both of you start with 50 customers each (50% market share)
Animated Explanation
Watch this short video to understand the concept of zero-sum thinking and how it affects our everyday decisions.
Choose Your Path
Select the journey that best matches your interests
Want to review the concepts?
The Research
Understanding the methodology behind "Zero-Sum Thinking and the Roots of U.S. Political Divides"
Purpose of the Study
The study investigates how beliefs about gains and losses shape political attitudes in the United States. Rather than focusing only on material interests or partisan identities, the research examines a deeper cognitive framework.
๐ก Central Claim
Zero-sum thinking is a measurable mindset that helps explain persistent political disagreement across a wide range of policy areas.
How Zero-Sum Thinking Is Measured
The study uses survey questions designed to capture respondents' beliefs about whether gains for one group come at the expense of others.
Domains Covered
Zero-sum thinking is measured across multiple domains to assess whether it reflects a general mindset rather than issue-specific opinions:
From Survey Responses to an Index
Individual responses are combined into a standardized zero-sum thinking index, following standard practices in survey research.
How to Interpret the Index
Stronger tendency to view outcomes as zero-sum โ gains for one group are perceived as losses for others.
Weaker zero-sum orientation โ greater openness to the possibility of shared gains.
Data Transparency
This website presents aggregated results only, based on the published study and its associated materials.
Individual-level data are not displayed or stored here.
For full methodological details, consult the original publication and appendices.
Want to dive deeper into the research methodology?
Read the Full PaperMeasure Your Zero-Sum Thinking
Answer 4 questions from Zero-Sum Thinking and the Roots of U.S. Political Divides (Chinoy, Nunn, Sequeira & Stantcheva, AER 2024) and compare your score with ~20,000 U.S. respondents.
Survey Questions
Please indicate how much you agree with each statement.
Visualization: Explore Zero-Sum Thinking Patterns
Demographic Patterns Viewer
This chart shows average zero-sum thinking scores (0โ1 scale) across different demographic groups. Use the dropdown to change variables and the filters on the right to subset the sample.
Zero-Sum Thinking by
Filters
What does the research say about this pattern?
Policy Index Viewer
This page shows how people's views on policy issuesโsuch as redistribution, immigration, and raceโrelate to zero-sum thinking. These indices measure policy attitudes, not zero-sum thinking itself. Use the selector and charts below to explore how policy preferences vary across the zero-sum spectrum.
Distribution of
Summary Statistics
How is this index constructed?
How do policy indices differ from the Zero-Sum Index?
The Zero-Sum Thinking Index measures a general mindset โ the tendency to view economic and social interactions as win-lose.
Policy indices measure attitudes toward specific issues (redistribution, immigration, race, gender). In the research paper, these are analyzed as outcomes that correlate with zero-sum thinking.
Think of it this way: zero-sum thinking is the lens; policy attitudes are what we observe through that lens.
Zero-Sum Index vs
Filters
How to read this chart
โข What this chart shows
This visualization displays the association between zero-sum thinking and policy attitudes. It summarizes patterns in the data but does not establish causality.
โข How the chart is constructed
The X-axis (Zero-Sum Index) is divided into 20 bins. Each dot represents the average policy index value within a bin. The dashed line shows the OLS regression fit.
โข Why binscatter is used
Following Chinoy et al. (2024), binscatter plots are used to highlight systematic relationships in approximately continuous indices without emphasizing individual-level noise.
๐ Sample note: Total survey respondents N = 20,278. The N shown above may be slightly lower (e.g., 20,230 for Redistribution) because some respondents have missing values for specific policy indices. Each policy index was constructed from different survey questions, so the valid sample size varies by index.
State-Level Zero-Sum Thinking Map
This map shows average zero-sum thinking scores by U.S. state. Use the generation selector below to explore how patterns differ across immigrant generations. Hover over states to see details.
Subgroup Statistics
- DC = Washington, D.C. (the U.S. capital, not Washington State). It is very small and located on the East Coast between Maryland and Virginia.
- PR = Puerto Rico (a U.S. territory in the Caribbean Sea, not a state). It is shown as an inset box in the bottom-left corner of the map.
What does the research say about immigration and zero-sum thinking?
Key finding: The study finds that zero-sum thinking is lower among more recent immigrant generations. This pattern โ strongest for immigrants themselves, weaker for their children, and largely absent by the third generation โ is described in the paper as a "generational gradient."
How do the authors interpret this pattern?
The authors note that these findings are consistent with the idea that direct immigration experience may shape perceptions of economic interactions, in contexts where economic gains occur without detriment to others. This interpretation is observational; the paper does not establish a definitive causal mechanism.
Source: Chinoy, Nunn, Sequeira & Stantcheva (2024), Figure 14
About This Project
Translating academic research into accessible, interactive educational content
Project Overview
This educational platform makes academic research on zero-sum thinking accessible to a broader audience. It presents a non-partisan, public-facing summary combining conceptual explanation, data visualization, and self-assessment.
Research Authors
The original research was conducted by leading economists specializing in political economy and development.
Harvard Kennedy School Project
Developed as part of Programming and Data for Policy Makers (DPI-691M), a course that introduces computational thinking, data analysis, and digital tools for policy communication.
Website Team
Developed by graduate students at Harvard Kennedy School. Any errors or interpretations are the team's responsibility alone.
How to Cite
Disclaimer
This is an independent educational presentation. It does not represent the views of the original authors, their institutions, Harvard Kennedy School, or any funding bodies.