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Can Television Reduce Xenophobia? The Case of East Germany

Author

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  • Lars Hornuf
  • Marc Oliver Rieger

Abstract

Can television have a mitigating effect on xenophobia? To examine this question, we exploit the fact that individuals in some areas of East Germany – due to their geographic location – could not receive West German television until 1989. We conjecture that individuals who received West German television were exposed more frequently to foreigners and thus have developed less xenophobia than people who were not exposed to those programs. Our results show that regions that could receive West German television were less likely to vote for right-wing parties during the national elections from 1998 to 2013. Only recently, the same regions were also more likely to vote for left-wing parties. Moreover, while counties that hosted more foreigners in 1989 were also more likely to vote for right-wing parties in most elections, we find counties that recently hosted more foreign visitors showed less xenophobia, which is in line with intergroup contact theory.

Suggested Citation

  • Lars Hornuf & Marc Oliver Rieger, 2017. "Can Television Reduce Xenophobia? The Case of East Germany," Research Papers in Economics 2017-01, University of Trier, Department of Economics.
  • Handle: RePEc:trr:wpaper:201701
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    File URL: http://www.uni-trier.de/fileadmin/fb4/prof/VWL/EWF/Research_Papers/2017-01.pdf
    File Function: First version, 2017
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Gallegos Torres, Katia, 2023. "The 2015 refugee inflow and concerns over immigration," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    2. Slavtchev, Viktor & Wyrwich, Michael, 2023. "The effects of TV content on entrepreneurship: Evidence from German unification," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(2), pages 696-721.
    3. Ariely, Dan & Garcia-Rada, Ximena & Gödker, Katrin & Hornuf, Lars & Mann, Heather, 2019. "The impact of two different economic systems on dishonesty," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 179-195.
    4. Viktor Slavtchev & Michael Wyrwich, 2017. "TV and Entrepreneurship," Jena Economics Research Papers 2017-007, Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena.
    5. Chadi, Adrian & Hoffmann, Manuel, 2021. "Television, Health, and Happiness: A Natural Experiment in West Germany," IZA Discussion Papers 14721, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    6. Gallegos Torres, Katia, 2021. "The 2015 refugee inflow and concerns over immigration," ZEW Discussion Papers 21-102, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Mass media; Television; Xenophobia; Attitudes towards foreigners; East Germany; Natural experiment;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D72 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Political Processes: Rent-seeking, Lobbying, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior
    • L82 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Services - - - Entertainment; Media
    • P30 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Socialist Institutions and Their Transitions - - - General

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