Do Newspapers Matter? Short-run and Long-run Evidence from the Closure of The Cincinnati Post

Sam Schulhofer-Wohl and Miguel Garrido

No 14817, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: The Cincinnati Post published its last edition on New Year's Eve 2007, leaving the Cincinnati Enquirer as the only daily newspaper in the market. The next year, fewer candidates ran for municipal office in the Kentucky suburbs most reliant on the Post, incumbents became more likely to win reelection, and voter turnout and campaign spending fell. These changes happened even though the Enquirer at least temporarily increased its coverage of the Post's former strongholds. Voter turnout remained depressed through 2010, nearly three years after the Post closed, but the other effects diminished with time. We exploit a difference-in-differences strategy and the fact that the Post's closing date was fixed 30 years in advance to rule out some non-causal explanations for our results. Although our findings are statistically imprecise, they demonstrate that newspapers - even underdogs such as the Post, which had a circulation of just 27,000 when it closed - can have a substantial and measurable impact on public life.

JEL-codes: H70 K21 L82 N82 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2009-03
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cul
Note: PE
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (9)

Published as Do Newspapers Matter? Short-Run and Long-Run Evidence from the Closure of The Cincinnati Post September 2012 - Staff Report 474 Published In: Journal of Media Economics (Vol. 26, No. 2, 2013, pp. 60-81)

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Journal Article: Do Newspapers Matter? Short-Run and Long-Run Evidence From the Closure of The Cincinnati Post (2013)
Working Paper: Do newspapers matter? Short-run and long-run evidence from the closure of The Cincinnati Post (2012)
Working Paper: Do newspapers matter? Short-run and long-run evidence from the closure of The Cincinnati Post (2011)
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