The Political Legacy of Entertainment TV | Zendy

Ruben Durante | Zendy; Paolo Pinotti | Zendy; Andrea Tesei | Zendy

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The Political Legacy of Entertainment TV

Author(s) -

Ruben Durante,

Paolo Pinotti,

Andrea Tesei

Publication year - 2019

Publication title -

american economic review

Language(s) - English

Resource type - Journals

SCImago Journal Rank - 16.936

H-Index - 297

eISSN - 1944-7981

pISSN - 0002-8282

DOI - 10.1257/aer.20150958

Subject(s) - entertainment , politics , rhetoric , political science , advertising , media studies , political economy , sociology , business , law , philosophy , linguistics

We study the political impact of entertainment television in Italy exploiting the staggered introduction of Berlusconi's commercial TV network, Mediaset, in the early 1980s. We find that individuals with early access to Mediaset all-entertainment content were more likely to vote for Berlusconi's party in 1994, when he first ran for office. The effect persists for five elections and is driven by heavy TV viewers, namely the very young and the elders. Regarding possible mechanisms, we find that individuals exposed to entertainment TV as children were less cognitively sophisticated and civic-minded as adults, and ultimately more vulnerable to Berlusconi's populist rhetoric.

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