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Swings, News, and Elections

Author

Listed:
  • Saptarshi Ghosh

    (Indian Institute of Technology Bombay)

  • Nidhi Jain

    (Shiv Nader University)

  • Cesar Martinelli

    (Interdisciplinary Center for Economic Science and Department of Economics, George Mason University)

  • Jaideep Roy

    (University of Bath)

Abstract

Can public mood swings that make all voters undergo ideological shifts towards a policy, hurt the electoral performance of that policy? The answer has an interesting connection with the operations of an apolitical, viewership- maximizing dominant media. The media chooses news quality about funda- mental uncertainties. Ex-ante preferences and news quality affect the voters’ value for information and viewership, influencing ex-post policy preferences and votes. We find that public mood swings in a policy’s favor can hurt its electoral performance by affecting the news quality, crowding out the mass ideological gain that initiates the favorable swing.

Suggested Citation

  • Saptarshi Ghosh & Nidhi Jain & Cesar Martinelli & Jaideep Roy, 2019. "Swings, News, and Elections," Working Papers 1076, George Mason University, Interdisciplinary Center for Economic Science.
    • Handle: RePEc:gms:wpaper:1076
    as

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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Mood swings; Media coverage; Media viewership; Elections;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D02 - Microeconomics - - General - - - Institutions: Design, Formation, Operations, and Impact
    • D72 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Political Processes: Rent-seeking, Lobbying, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior
    • D82 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Asymmetric and Private Information; Mechanism Design

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