E-Lections: Voting Behavior and the Internet

Oliver Falck, Robert Gold and Stephan Heblich

No 6545, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: This paper analyses the effect of information disseminated by the Internet on voting behavior. We address endogeneity in Internet availability by exploiting regional and technological peculiarities of the preexisting voice telephony network that hinder the roll-out of fixed-line broadband infrastructure for high-speed Internet. We find small negative effects of Internet availability on voter turnout, and no evidence that the Internet systematically benefits single parties. Robustness tests including placebo estimations from the pre-Internet era confirm our results. We relate differences in the Internet effect between national and local elections to a crowding out of national but not local newspapers.

Keywords: elections; political economy; instrumental variables; mass media; internet (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C50 D72 L86 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 46 pages
Date: 2012-05
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cdm, nep-ict, nep-pol and nep-soc
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (29)

Published - published in: American Economic Review, 2014, 104 (7), 2238-2265

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https://docs.iza.org/dp6545.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
Journal Article: E-lections: Voting Behavior and the Internet (2014)
Working Paper: E-lections: Voting Behavior and the Internet (2014)
Working Paper: E-Lections: Voting Behavior and the Internet (2012)
Working Paper: E-Lections: Voting Behavior and the Internet (2012)
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