Arbeitspapier

E-lections: Voting behavior and the internet

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.

Language
Englisch

Bibliographic citation
Series: IZA Discussion Papers ; No. 6545

Classification
Wirtschaft
Political Processes: Rent-seeking, Lobbying, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior
Econometric Modeling: General
Information and Internet Services; Computer Software
Subject
elections
political economy
instrumental variables
mass media
internet
Wahlverhalten
Informationsverhalten
Kommunikationsmedien
Internet
Deutschland

Event
Geistige Schöpfung
(who)
Falck, Oliver
Gold, Robert
Heblich, Stephan
Event
Veröffentlichung
(who)
Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA)
(where)
Bonn
(when)
2012

Handle
URN
urn:nbn:de:101:1-201208175247
Last update
10.03.2025, 11:43 AM CET

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Object type

  • Arbeitspapier

Associated

  • Falck, Oliver
  • Gold, Robert
  • Heblich, Stephan
  • Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA)

Time of origin

  • 2012

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