Working Paper: CEPR ID: DP5732
Authors: Sofronis Clerides; Thanasis Stengos
Abstract: The annual Eurovision Song Contest provides a setting where Europeans can express their sentiments about other countries without regard to political sensitivities. Analyzing voting data from the 25 contests between 1981-2005, we find strong evidence for the existence of clusters of countries that systematically exchange votes regardless of the quality of their entries. Cultural, geographic, economic and political factors are important determinants of point exchanges. Factors such as order of appearance, language and gender are also important. There is also a substantial host country effect. We find some evidence of reciprocity but no evidence of strategic voting.
Keywords: Eurovision; reciprocity; social networks
JEL Codes: Z13
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| cultural, geographic, political, and economic factors (Z19) | voting patterns (D72) |
| shared cultural affinities (Z10) | exchange of votes (D72) |
| order of performance (Y20) | voting outcomes (D72) |
| host country effect (F22) | points received by host nation (F53) |
| reciprocity in voting (D72) | points awarded (C71) |
| affinity (Y80) | voting behavior (D72) |
| introduction of televoting (K16) | significance of factors in voting behavior (D72) |