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Media Capture in a Democracy: The Role of Wealth Concentration

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Author Info
Giacomo Corneo ()
Abstract

Since objective news coverage is vital to democracy, captured media can seriously distort collective decisions. The current paper develops a voting model where citizens are uncertain about the welfare effects induced by alternative policy options and derive information about those effects from the mass media. The media might however secretly collude with interest groups in order to influence the public opinion. In the case of voting over the level of a productivity-enhancing public bad, it is shown that an increase in the concentration of firm ownership makes the occurrence of media bias more likely. Although media bias is not always welfare worsening, conditions for it to raise welfare are restrictive.

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Publisher Info
Paper provided by CESifo Group Munich in its series CESifo Working Paper Series with number CESifo Working Paper No. 1402.

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Date of creation: 2005
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Handle: RePEc:ces:ceswps:_1402

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Related research
Keywords: mass media; public bads; voting; wealth inequality;

Find related papers by JEL classification:
D72 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Models of Political Processes: Rent-seeking, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior
H41 - Public Economics - - Publicly Provided Goods - - - Public Goods

This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

References listed on IDEAS
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  1. Djankov, Simeon & et al, 2003. "Who Owns the Media?," Journal of Law & Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 46(2), pages 341-81, October.
    Other versions:
  2. Ted Bergstrom, 1979. "When Does Majority Rule Supply Public Goods Efficiently?," University of California at Santa Barbara, Economics Working Paper Series 1979A, Department of Economics, UC Santa Barbara. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  3. Roemer, John E, 1993. " Would Economic Democracy Decrease the Amount of Public Bads?," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 95(2), pages 227-38.
    Other versions:
  4. Sendhil Mullainathan & Andrei Shleifer, 2002. "Media Bias," NBER Working Papers 9295, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  5. Harsanyi, John C, 1995. "Games with Incomplete Information," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 85(3), pages 291-303, June.
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  6. Jimmy Chan & Wing Suen, 2003. "Media as Watchdogs: The Role of News Media in Electoral Competition," Economics Working Paper Archive 497, The Johns Hopkins University,Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
  7. Benabou, Roland & Laroque, Guy, 1992. "Using Privileged Information to Manipulate Markets: Insiders, Gurus, and Credibility," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 107(3), pages 921-58, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  8. Crawford, Vincent P & Sobel, Joel, 1982. "Strategic Information Transmission," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 50(6), pages 1431-51, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  9. Baron, David P., 2004. "Persistent Media Bias," Research Papers 1845r, Stanford University, Graduate School of Business. [Downloadable!]
  10. Timothy Besley & Andrea Prat, 2006. "Handcuffs for the Grabbing Hand? Media Capture and Government Accountability," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 96(3), pages 720-736, June. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
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