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Media and Political Persuasion: Evidence from Russia

Author

Listed:
  • Ruben Enikolopov

    (New Economic School (Moscow))

  • Maria Petrova

    (New Economic School (Moscow))

  • Ekaterina Zhuravskaya

    (Paris School of Economics and New Economic School)

Abstract

This paper compares electoral outcomes of 1999 parliamentary elections in Russia among geographical areas with differential access to the only independent from the government national TV channel. It was available to three-quarters of Russia’s population and its signal availability was idiosyncratic conditional on observables. Independent TV decreased aggregate vote for the government party by 8.9 percentage points, increased the combined vote for major opposition parties by 6.3 percentage points, and decreased turnout by 3.8 percentage points. The probability of voting for opposition parties increased for individuals who watched independent TV even controlling for voting intentions measured one month before elections.

Suggested Citation

  • Ruben Enikolopov & Maria Petrova & Ekaterina Zhuravskaya, 2010. "Media and Political Persuasion: Evidence from Russia," Working Papers w0149, New Economic School (NES).
    • Handle: RePEc:abo:neswpt:w0149
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    File URL: https://www.nes.ru/files/Preprints-resh/WP149.pdf
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    JEL classification:

    • J0 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - General
    • D0 - Microeconomics - - General
    • H0 - Public Economics - - General

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