Can Television Bring Down a Dictator? Evidence from Chile's “No" Campaign

Felipe González and Mounu Prem

No 491, Documentos de Trabajo from Instituto de Economia. Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile.

Abstract: Can televised political advertising change voting behavior in elections held in authoritarian regimes? We study the case of Chile, where the opposition used television campaigns weeks before the election that ended the Pinochet regime. We show that after campaigns were launched, firms linked to Pinochet lost stock market value, confirming the contemporaneous importance of television. Using national surveys conducted before the election and administrative electoral data, we provide evidence of a positive effect of television exposure on opposition votes. These results suggest that televised political campaigns can help to defeat dictators at the polls.

JEL-codes: D24 H23 L13 L74 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Related works:
Journal Article: Can television bring down a dictator? Evidence from Chile’s “No” campaign (2018)
Working Paper: Can Television Bring Down a Dictator? Evidence from Chile’s “No” Campaign (2017)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ioe:doctra:491

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