The Political Legacy of Entertainment TV
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Volume
109
Pagination
pp. 2497-2530
Publisher
DOI
10.1257/aer.20150958
Journal
American Economic Review
Issue
ISSN
0002-8282
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
We study the political impact of commercial television in Italy exploiting the staggered introduction of Berlusconi's private TV network, Mediaset, in the early 1980s. We find that individuals with early access to Mediaset all-entertainment content were more likely to vote for Berlusconi's party in 1994, when he first ran for office. The effect persists for five elections and is driven by heavy TV viewers, namely the very young and the elderly. Regarding possible mechanisms, we find that individuals exposed to entertainment TV as children were less cognitively sophisticated and civic-minded as adults, and ultimately more vulnerable to Berlusconi's populist rhetoric.
© 2019 AEA
Authors
TESEI, A; Durante, R; Pinotti, PCollections
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