The media exert an important influence on politics and policy. In this course, we will discuss classic and recent research in economics that explores the role played by traditional and social media. We will begin by looking at how the media influence politicians’ behavior, voters’ choices, and policy outcomes. We will also discuss the determinants on content choice (e.g. slant), including the role played by market structure. Then, we will turn our attention to the emergence of social media and what their features imply for political outcomes, collective action, and news production. The last sessions of the course will be devoted to recent developments in the area such as misinformation. We will approach these issues through the discussion of empirical research papers in economics. As part of the course, students will improve their understanding of state-of-the-art techniques for causal inference and learn to critically evaluate empirical research in economics.
This course is for 2nd year MIA, MPP and MDS students only.
Instructor
- Arianna Ornaghi , Assistant Professor of Economics