Television and family demography: Evidence from a natural experiment in East Germany

Sven A. Hartmann ()
Additional contact information
Sven A. Hartmann: Institute for Labour Law and Industrial Relations in the European Union (IAAEU), Trier University

No 202407, IAAEU Discussion Papers from Institute of Labour Law and Industrial Relations in the European Union (IAAEU)

Abstract: This paper examines the causal effects of television exposure on individual decisions regarding marriage, divorce, and family planning by utilizing a natural experiment in the German Democratic Republic during the period of German division. I exploit the fact that individuals in some East German areas could not receive Western television due to their place of residence before reunification in 1990. By analyzing survey data from the German Socio-Economic Panel, my results reveal that exposure to Western TV significantly reduced the likelihood of marriage and childbirth while increasing the probability of divorce among East Germans. Analyzing administrative data at the county level supports these findings. In addition, survey data from the late 1980s indicates that the observed effects are primarily due to changes in attitudes towards relationships and family life, particularly among women.

Keywords: television; divorce; marriage; fertitliy; east germany; natural experiment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J12 J13 L82 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 82 pages
Date: 2024-10
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-his
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.iaaeu.de/images/DiscussionPaper/2024_07.pdf First version, 2024 (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:iaa:dpaper:202407

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in IAAEU Discussion Papers from Institute of Labour Law and Industrial Relations in the European Union (IAAEU) Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Adrian Chadi ().