The Political Economy of Propaganda: Evidence from US Newspapers

Sebastian Ottinger () and Max Posch ()
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Sebastian Ottinger: CERGE-EI
Max Posch: Harvard University

No 15078, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: We study the impact of the first American party committed to redistribution from rich to poor on anti-Black media content in the 1890s. The Populist Party sought support among poor farmers, regardless of race, providing the segregationist Democratic establishment in the South with an incentive to fan racial outrage to alienate white voters from the Populists. Using text data from local newspapers and a difference-in-differences strategy, we find that stories of sexual assaults by Black men on white women became more prevalent in counties where the Populists threatened the Democratic dominance, and in Democratic newspapers only.

Keywords: propaganda; divide and rule; political threat; media (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D72 J15 L82 N91 Z1 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 73 pages
Date: 2022-02
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cdm, nep-his and nep-pol
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

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