MEDIA EXPOSURE AND INDIVIDUAL CHOICES: EVIDENCE FROM LOTTO PLAYERS

Maria De Paola () and Vincenzo Scoppa ()

No 201102, Working Papers from Università della Calabria, Dipartimento di Economia, Statistica e Finanza "Giovanni Anania" - DESF

Abstract: To what extent individual choices are influenced by media exposure? We try to provide evidence on this issue considering how the sales of lotto tickets are determined by the size of the top prize (the jackpot) compared to the amount of attention that media devote to the game. We use data on the Italian SuperEnalotto (2003- 2010) and estimate tickets sales in relation to the jackpot size and to several measures of lotto media coverage. To take into account that media attention may be affected by the amount of tickets sold we instrument media coverage with the availability of other newsworthy material (sport events and disasters). It emerges that media attention to the game is inversely related to the availability of other news. Two-Stage-Least Squares Estimations show that, given the jackpot size, players spend more on lotto when media attention to the game is higher.

Keywords: Media Influence; Media Exposure; Psychology and Economics; Lottery; Instrumental Variables (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D03 D1 D81 D83 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 9 pages
Date: 2011-02
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cul and nep-spo
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