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The Political Economy of Propaganda: Evidence from US Newspapers

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  • Ottinger, Sebastian

    (CERGE-EI)

  • Posch, Max

    (Harvard University)

Abstract

We study the impact of the first American party committed to redistribution from rich to poor on anti-Black media content in the 1890s. The Populist Party sought support among poor farmers, regardless of race, providing the segregationist Democratic establishment in the South with an incentive to fan racial outrage to alienate white voters from the Populists. Using text data from local newspapers and a difference-in-differences strategy, we find that stories of sexual assaults by Black men on white women became more prevalent in counties where the Populists threatened the Democratic dominance, and in Democratic newspapers only.

Suggested Citation

  • Ottinger, Sebastian & Posch, Max, 2022. "The Political Economy of Propaganda: Evidence from US Newspapers," IZA Discussion Papers 15078, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp15078
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    Cited by:

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    2. Bernini, Andrea & Facchini, Giovanni & Tabellini, Marco & Testa, Cecilia, 2023. "Black Empowerment and White Mobilization: The Effects of the Voting Rights Act," CEPR Discussion Papers 18238, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    3. Nicolas Berman & Björn Brey & Jérémy Laurent-Lucchetti, 2023. "Panic politics on the US West Coast," Discussion Papers 2023-06, Nottingham Interdisciplinary Centre for Economic and Political Research (NICEP).
    4. Rusch, Hannes, 2023. "The logic of human intergroup conflict:," Research Memorandum 014, Maastricht University, Graduate School of Business and Economics (GSBE).
    5. Szydlowski, Martin, 2024. "Fomenting conflict," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 220(C).
    6. Nancy Qian & Marco Tabellini, 2021. "Racial Discrimination and the Social Contract: Evidence from U.S. Army Enlistment during WWII," NBER Working Papers 29482, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    propaganda; divide and rule; political threat; media;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D72 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Political Processes: Rent-seeking, Lobbying, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior
    • J15 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants; Non-labor Discrimination
    • L82 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Services - - - Entertainment; Media
    • N91 - Economic History - - Regional and Urban History - - - U.S.; Canada: Pre-1913
    • Z1 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics

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