IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/abh/wpaper/19-031.html

Does Social Media Promote Democracy? Some Empirical Evidence

Author

Listed:
  • Chandan Kumar Jha

    (New York, USA)

  • Oasis Kodila-Tedika

    (Kinshasa, The Democratic Republic of Congo)

Abstract

This study explores the relationship between social media and democracy in a cross- section of over 125 countries around the world. We find the evidence of a strong, positive correlation between Facebook penetration (a proxy for social media) and democracy. We further show that the correlation between social media and democracy is stronger for low-income countries than high-income countries. Our lowest point estimates indicate that a one-standard deviation (about 18 percentage point) increase in Facebook penetration is associated with about 8-point (on a scale of 0–100) increase for the world sample and over 11 points improvement for low-income countries.

Suggested Citation

  • Chandan Kumar Jha & Oasis Kodila-Tedika, 2019. "Does Social Media Promote Democracy? Some Empirical Evidence," Research Africa Network Working Papers 19/031, Research Africa Network (RAN).
    • Handle: RePEc:abh:wpaper:19/031
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://publications.resanet.org/RePEc/abh/abh-wpaper/Does-Social-Media-Promote-Democracy.pdf
    File Function: Revised version, 2019
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Kalenborn, Christine & Lessmann, Christian, 2013. "The impact of democracy and press freedom on corruption: Conditionality matters," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 35(6), pages 857-886.
    2. Jha, Chandan Kumar & Sarangi, Sudipta, 2017. "Does social media reduce corruption?," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 60-71.
    3. Adams, Samuel & Klobodu, Edem Kwame Mensah, 2017. "Urbanization, democracy, bureaucratic quality, and environmental degradation," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 39(6), pages 1035-1051.
    4. Ahmad, Mahyudin & Hall, Stephen G., 2017. "Economic growth and convergence: Do institutional proximity and spillovers matter?," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 39(6), pages 1065-1085.
    5. Mvukiyehe, Eric & Samii, Cyrus, 2017. "Promoting Democracy in Fragile States: Field Experimental Evidence from Liberia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 254-267.
    6. Diego Comin & William Easterly & Erick Gong, 2010. "Was the Wealth of Nations Determined in 1000 BC?," American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 2(3), pages 65-97, July.
    7. Saleh, Nivien, 2012. "Egypt’s digital activism and the Dictator’s Dilemma: An evaluation," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(6), pages 476-483.
    8. Edward Glaeser & Giacomo Ponzetto & Andrei Shleifer, 2007. "Why does democracy need education?," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 12(2), pages 77-99, June.
    9. Grigoriadis, Theocharis, 2016. "Religious origins of democracy & dictatorship," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 38(5), pages 785-809.
    10. Hunt Allcott & Matthew Gentzkow, 2017. "Social Media and Fake News in the 2016 Election," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 31(2), pages 211-236, Spring.
    11. Carl Henrik Knutsen, 2015. "Why Democracies Outgrow Autocracies in the Long Run: Civil Liberties, Information Flows and Technological Change," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 68(3), pages 357-384, August.
    12. Robert J. Barro, 1999. "Determinants of Democracy," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 107(S6), pages 158-183, December.
    13. Diego A. Comin & Bart Hobijn, 2009. "The CHAT Dataset," Harvard Business School Working Papers 10-035, Harvard Business School.
    14. Sudipta Sarangi & Chandan Jha, 2014. "Social Media, Internet and Corruption," Departmental Working Papers 2014-03, Department of Economics, Louisiana State University.
    15. Axel Dreher, 2006. "Does globalization affect growth? Evidence from a new index of globalization," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 38(10), pages 1091-1110.
    16. Daron Acemoglu & Simon Johnson & James A. Robinson & Pierre Yared, 2005. "From Education to Democracy?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 95(2), pages 44-49, May.
    17. Bei Qin & David Strömberg & Yanhui Wu, 2017. "Why Does China Allow Freer Social Media? Protests versus Surveillance and Propaganda," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 31(1), pages 117-140, Winter.
    18. Wagner, Ben, 2012. "Push-button-autocracy in Tunisia: Analysing the role of Internet infrastructure, institutions and international markets in creating a Tunisian censorship regime," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(6), pages 484-492.
    19. Farzanegan, Mohammad Reza & Markwardt, Gunther, 2018. "Development and pollution in the Middle East and North Africa: Democracy matters," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 40(2), pages 350-374.
    20. Barry Eichengreen & David Leblang, 2008. "Democracy And Globalization," Economics and Politics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 20(3), pages 289-334, November.
    21. Hunt Allcott & Matthew Gentzkow, 2017. "Social Media and Fake News in the 2016 Election," NBER Working Papers 23089, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    22. Barro, Robert J. & Lee, Jong Wha, 2013. "A new data set of educational attainment in the world, 1950–2010," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 184-198.
    23. Ruben Enikolopov & Maria Petrova & Konstantin Sonin, 2018. "Social Media and Corruption," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 10(1), pages 150-174, January.
    24. Daron Acemoglu & Simon Johnson & James A. Robinson & Pierre Yared, 2008. "Income and Democracy," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 98(3), pages 808-842, June.
    25. Jeffrey M Wooldridge, 2010. "Econometric Analysis of Cross Section and Panel Data," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 2, volume 1, number 0262232588, December.
    26. Daron Acemoglu & Suresh Naidu & Pascual Restrepo & James A. Robinson, 2019. "Democracy Does Cause Growth," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 127(1), pages 47-100.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Gründler, Klaus & Krieger, Tommy, 2022. "Should we care (more) about data aggregation?," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 142(C).
    2. Doris A. Oberdabernig & Stefan Humer & Jesus Crespo Cuaresma, 2018. "Democracy, Geography and Model Uncertainty," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 65(2), pages 154-185, May.
    3. Oasis Kodila-Tedika, 2021. "Natural resource governance: does social media matter?," Mineral Economics, Springer;Raw Materials Group (RMG);Luleå University of Technology, vol. 34(1), pages 127-140, April.
    4. Jooste, Charl & Liu, Guangling (Dave) & Naraidoo, Ruthira, 2013. "Analysing the effects of fiscal policy shocks in the South African economy," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 32(C), pages 215-224.
    5. Dario Debowicz & Alex Dickson & Ian A. MacKenzie & Petros G. Sekeris, 2025. "Income and the (eventual) rise of democracy," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 204(3), pages 381-424, September.
    6. Jha, Chandan Kumar & Sarangi, Sudipta, 2017. "Does social media reduce corruption?," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 60-71.
    7. Doerr, Leo M & Leppert, Elias B & Maennig, Wolfgang, 2025. "Olympic Games and democracy," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 87(C), pages 1073-1091.
    8. Campante, Filipe R. & Chor, Davin, 2014. "“The people want the fall of the regime”: Schooling, political protest, and the economy," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(3), pages 495-517.
    9. Wyndow, Paula & Li, Jianghong & Mattes, Eugen, 2013. "Female Empowerment as a Core Driver of Democratic Development: A Dynamic Panel Model from 1980 to 2005," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 34-54.
    10. Eugene Kouassi & Sandotin Coulibaly & Oluyele Akinkugbe & Mbodja Mougoué, 2021. "The democracy income‐growth nexus in the southern African development community revisited," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 26(2), pages 1835-1854, April.
    11. Jorge Braga Macedo & Joaquim Oliveira Martins & João Tovar Jalles, 2021. "Globalization, Freedoms and Economic convergence: an empirical exploration of a trivariate relationship using a large panel," International Economics and Economic Policy, Springer, vol. 18(3), pages 605-629, July.
    12. Sajad Rahimian, 2021. "The Determinants of Democracy Revisited: An Instrumental Variable Bayesian Model Averaging Approach," Papers 2103.04255, arXiv.org.
    13. Manoel Bittencourt, 2012. "Yet Another Look at the Modernisation Hypothesis: Evidence from Latin America," Working Papers 201205, University of Pretoria, Department of Economics.
    14. Leopoldo Fergusson & Carlos Molina, 2020. "Facebook Causes Protests," HiCN Working Papers 323, Households in Conflict Network.
    15. Torsten Persson & Guido Tabellini, 2009. "Democratic Capital: The Nexus of Political and Economic Change," American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 1(2), pages 88-126, July.
    16. Joël Cariolle & Yasmine Elkhateeb & Mathilde Maurel, 2022. "(Mis-)information technology: Internet use and perception of democracy in Africa," Documents de travail du Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne 22010, Université Panthéon-Sorbonne (Paris 1), Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne.
    17. Papaioannou, Elias & Siourounis, Gregorios, 2008. "Economic and social factors driving the third wave of democratization," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 36(3), pages 365-387, September.
    18. Zheng, Mingbo & Feng, Gen-Fu & Feng, Suling & Yuan, Xuemei, 2019. "The road to innovation vs. the role of globalization: A dynamic quantile investigation," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 65-83.
    19. Carolyn Chisadza & Manoel Bittencourt, 2014. "Is Democracy Eluding Sub-Saharan Africa?," Working Papers 201403, University of Pretoria, Department of Economics.
    20. Andranik Tumasjan, 2024. "The many faces of social media in business and economics research: Taking stock of the literature and looking into the future," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(2), pages 389-426, April.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • D72 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Political Processes: Rent-seeking, Lobbying, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior
    • D83 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Search; Learning; Information and Knowledge; Communication; Belief; Unawareness
    • O1 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:abh:wpaper:19/031. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Anutechia Asongu Simplice (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.resanet.org .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.