Media Proliferation with Quasi-Rational Consumers
نویسندگان
چکیده
The number of Internet news media outlets has grown rapidly in recent years. This paper analyzes the effects of media proliferation on electoral outcomes and social welfare. We assume voters are information-seeking but choose outlets that are excessively partisan given the voters’ own ideological preferences, due to quasi-rationality. We find that if voters who think (correctly or not) that they prefer extreme outlets may influence the election, then media proliferation strictly improves welfare. Otherwise, welfare cycles as the number of outlets increases. In general, welfare is lowest when there are only one or two media outlets, for all levels of rationality. JEL Classification Numbers: D72, D81, D83, L82
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