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Do Television and Radio Destroy Social Capital? Evidence from Indonesian Villages

Benjamin Olken

No 12561, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: In "Bowling Alone," Putnam (1995) famously argued that the rise of television may be responsible for social capital's decline. I investigate this hypothesis in the context of Indonesian villages. To identify the impact of exposure to television (and radio), I exploit plausibly exogenous differences in over-the-air signal strength associated with the topography of East and Central Java. Using this approach, I find that better signal reception, which is associated with more time spent watching television and listening to radio, is associated with substantially lower levels of participation in social activities and with lower self-reported measures of trust. I find particularly strong effects on participation in local government activities, as well as on participation in informal savings groups. However, despite the impact on social capital, improved reception does not appear to affect village governance, at least as measured by discussions in village-level meetings and by corruption in a village-level road project.

JEL-codes: Z13 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2006-10
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cul, nep-sea and nep-soc
Note: LS POL
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (27)

Published as Benjamin A. Olken, 2009. "Do Television and Radio Destroy Social Capital? Evidence from Indonesian Villages," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 1(4), pages 1-33, October.

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Journal Article: Do Television and Radio Destroy Social Capital? Evidence from Indonesian Villages (2009) Downloads
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