Coups and the dynamics of media freedom

Christian Bjørnskov, Andreas Freytag () and Jerg Gutmann

Economic Modelling, 2022, vol. 116, issue C

Abstract: Media freedom is important not only for the quality of life in a country, but also for its investment climate, as a free press is essential for holding politicians accountable. This is the first global study of how coups affect media freedom. We argue that the effect of a coup should depend on whether it is successful, whether the targeted country is democratic and how much of the economy it controls, and on the presence of constitutional rules protecting media freedom. Our empirical analysis shows that all these factors, except constitutional rules, matter for whether media freedom declines after a coup. Reductions are unlikely after failed coups, coups against autocracies or coups against very “small” governments. Activists, policy makers and businesspeople should pay close attention to the media sector after a successful coup against a democracy with a moderate or big size of government.

Keywords: Coup; Political instability; Media freedom; Press freedom; Size of government (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D74 H12 L51 L82 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Related works:
Working Paper: Coups, Regime Transition, and the Dynamics of Press Freedom (2018)
Working Paper: Coups, Regime Transition, and the Dynamics of Press Freedom (2018)
Working Paper: Coups, Regime Transition, and the Dynamics of Press Freedom (2018)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:ecmode:v:116:y:2022:i:c:s0264999322002644

DOI: 10.1016/j.econmod.2022.106025

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