Research
Working papers
Connecting the Unconnected: Facebook Access and Female Political Participation in Sub-Saharan Africa
with Sophie Hatte and Jordan Loper, Submitted
Abstract
Can social media help promote female access to political positions? Using data from 8,814 parliamentary races across 17 sub-Saharan African countries, we explore this question in a context of significant political underrepresentation of women and rising Facebook penetration over the past decade. We leverage the staggered introduction of Facebook's Free Basics--i.e., free access to Facebook through partner mobile operators--across constituencies and time, documenting the success of this connectivity shock and its subsequent effect on female political representation. We find that the availability of Facebook's Free Basics significantly increases the election of female candidates, but only after one electoral cycle. This effect is driven by female candidates endorsed by established political parties and running for the first time. Uncovering the underlying mechanisms, we document a large, positive relationship between social media use and egalitarian gender norms, particularly regarding women in politics. Examining users' online network structures, we show that this association is driven by exposure to diverse and progressive content, and that such online connections are key to Free Basics' electoral impact. Finally, we find that Free Basics' effect is contingent on the presence of fair elections but is amplified where traditional press freedom is limited
Work in progress
Far-Right Ownership in the Printed Press and Public Policy
with Mathieu Couttenier, Sophie Hatte and Stephanos Vlachos
Abstract
Newspapers shape the beliefs and attitudes of citizens, creating room for politicians to extract a large political dividend of controlling the press. By studying the take-over of one of the most important newspapers in Switzerland (the Bazler Zeitung) in 2010 by a prominent figure of the Swiss right-wing populist party (Swiss People’s Party, SVP), we estimate how politically motivated ownership in the media industry affects preferences towards public policy. By collecting the universe of news articles published in German-speaking Switzerland since 2006 by 7 leading daily newspapers, we show that, following the take-over, the editorial-line of the Bazler Zeitung converged towards the platform of the SVP. This convergence is particularly strong in weeks preceding important electoral events. In addition, we document endogenous responses in content production by the Bazler Zeitung’s competitors. Leveraging Switzerland’s referendum system on public policy issues, we measure alignment with political parties on policy preferences at the municipality level for 145 referendums over the 2002-2023 period. We show that the take-over significantly increased turnout and alignment with the SVP in municipalities where the Bazler Zeitung was circulating prior to it.
Early but not Alone? Mail Voting and Within-Couple Political Agency
Printing Progress? Newspapers and Female Emancipation in Pre-Suffrage Britain
with Andrea Tizzani
Exposure to Informal Markets and Educational Choices: Evidence from Artisanal Mines
with Mathieu Couttenier