The safest time to fly: pandemic response in the era of Fox News

Maxim Ananyev, Mikhail Poyker and Yuan Tian ()
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Yuan Tian: University of Nottingham

Journal of Population Economics, 2021, vol. 34, issue 3, No 1, 775-802

Abstract: Abstract We document a causal effect of the conservative Fox News Channel in the USA on physical distancing during COVID-19 pandemic. We measure county-level mobility covering all US states and District of Columbia produced by GPS pings to 15–17 million smartphones and zip-code-level mobility using Facebook location data. Using the historical position of Fox News Channel in the cable lineup as the source of exogenous variation, we show that increased exposure to Fox News led to a smaller reduction in distance traveled and a smaller increase in the probability of staying home after the national emergency declaration in the USA. Our results show that slanted media can have a harmful effect on containment efforts during a pandemic by affecting people’s behavior.

Keywords: Mobility; Media bias; Fox News; COVID-19 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D1 D7 I31 Z13 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (17)

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DOI: 10.1007/s00148-021-00847-0

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