Working Paper: NBER ID: w19675
Authors: Matthew Gentzkow; Jesse M. Shapiro
Abstract: News consumption is moving online. If this move fundamentally changes how news is produced and consumed it will have important ramifications for politics. In this chapter we formulate a model of the supply and demand of news online that is motivated by descriptive features of online news consumption. We estimate the demand model using a combination of microdata and aggregate moments from a panel of Internet users. We evaluate the fit of the model to key features of the data and use it to compute the predictions of the supply model. We discuss how such a model can inform debates about the effects of the Internet on political polarization and other outcomes of interest.
Keywords: Online News; Political Polarization; Ideology
JEL Codes: D83; L86
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| ideological alignment (P16) | news consumption (D10) |
| news consumption (D10) | political polarization (D72) |
| advertising revenue (M37) | content production (E23) |
| number of news outlets (L82) | political polarization (D72) |
| ideological customization (P39) | echo chambers (Y60) |
| individual ideological preferences (D79) | political polarization (D72) |
| quality of news sources (L15) | political polarization (D72) |