Competition and Ideological Diversity: Historical Evidence from US Newspapers

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Gentzkow, Matthew; Shapiro, Jesse M.; Sinkinson, Michael
• 署名单位: University of Chicago; National Bureau of Economic Research; University of Pennsylvania
• 刊物名称: AMERICAN ECONOMIC REVIEW
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0002-8282
• DOI: 10.1257/aer.104.10.3073
• 发表日期: 2014
• 页码: 3073-3114
• 关键词: discrete-choice models; 2-sided markets; media bias; free entry; product; mergers; press; differentiation; welfare; equilibrium

摘要

We study the competitive forces which shaped ideological diversity in the US press in the early twentieth century. We find that households preferred like-minded news and that newspapers used their political orientation to differentiate from competitors. We formulate a model of newspaper demand, entry, and political affiliation choice in which newspapers compete for both readers and advertisers. We use a combination of estimation and calibration to identify the model's parameters from novel data on newspaper circulation, costs, and revenues. The estimated model implies that competition enhances ideological diversity, that the market undersupplies diversity, and that optimal competition policy requires accounting for the two-sidedness of the news market.