Mass Media and Public Policy:Global Evidence from Agricultural Policies

Alessandro Olper and Johan Swinnen

LICOS Discussion Papers from LICOS - Centre for Institutions and Economic Performance, KU Leuven

Abstract: Mass media plays a crucial role in information distribution and thus in the political market and public policy making. Theory predicts that information provided by mass media reflects the media's incentives to provide news to different types of groups in society, and affects these groups?influence in policy-making. We use data on agricultural policy from 60 countries, spanning a wide range of development stages and media markets, to test these predictions. We find that, in line with theoretical predictions, public support to agriculture is strongly affected by the structure of the mass media. In particular, a greater role of the private mass media in society is associated with policies which benefit the majority more: it reduces taxation of agriculture in poor countries and reduces subsidization of agriculture in rich countries, ceteris paribus. The evidence is also consistent with the hypothesis that increased competition in commercial media reduces transfers to special interest groups and contributes to more efficient public policies.

Keywords: Mass Media; Media Structure; Information; Agricultural Protection; Political Economy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D72 D83 Q18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2009
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-agr, nep-cul and nep-pol
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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http://www.econ.kuleuven.be/licos/publications/dp/dp232.pdf

Related works:
Journal Article: Mass Media and Public Policy: Global Evidence from Agricultural Policies (2013)
Working Paper: Mass media and public policy: global evidence from agricultural policies (2013)
Working Paper: Mass Media and Public Policy: Global Evidence from Agricultural Policies (2009)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:lic:licosd:23209

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