Exposure to Television and Individual Beliefs: Evidence from a Natural Experiment

Tanja Hennighausen

No 535, SOEPpapers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research from DIW Berlin, The German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP)

Abstract: Does the information provided by mass media have the power to persistently affect individual beliefs about the drivers of success in life? To answer this question empirically, this contribution exploits a natural experiment on the reception of West German television in the former German Democratic Republic. After identifying the impact of Western television on individual beliefs and attitudes in the late 1980s, longitudinal data from the German Socio-Economic Panel is used to test the persistence of the television effect on individual beliefs during the 1990s. The empirical findings indicate that Western television exposure has made East Germans more inclined to believe that effort rather than luck determines success in life. Furthermore, this effect still persists several years after the German reunification.

Keywords: media; beliefs; East Germany; SOEP (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D78 D83 H89 P39 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 39 p.
Date: 2013
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cul and nep-soc
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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Related works:
Journal Article: Exposure to television and individual beliefs: Evidence from a natural experiment (2015)
Working Paper: Exposure to television and individual beliefs: Evidence from a natural experiment (2012)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:diw:diwsop:diw_sp535

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