Tear in the Iron Curtain: The Impact of Western Television on Consumption Behavior

Leonardo Bursztyn and Davide Cantoni

The Review of Economics and Statistics, 2016, vol. 98, issue 1, 25-41

Abstract: This paper examines the impact of exposure to foreign media on the economic behavior of agents in a totalitarian regime. We study private consumption choices focusing on the former East Germany, where differential access to Western television was determined by geographic features. Using data collected after the transition to a market economy, we find no evidence of a significant impact of previous exposure to Western television on aggregate consumption levels. However, exposure to Western broadcasts affects the composition of consumption, biasing choices in favor of categories of goods with a high intensity of prereunification advertisement. The effects vanish by 1998.

Keywords: Consumption; Media; Television; Advertising; East Germany; Communism (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D12 E21 Z10 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (90)

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Related works:
Working Paper: A Tear in the Iron Curtain: The Impact of Western Television on Consumption Behavior (2014)
Working Paper: A Tear in the Iron Curtain: The Impact of Western Television on Consumption Behavior (2012)
Working Paper: A Tear in the Iron Curtain: The Impact of Western Television on Consumption Behavior (2012)
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