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Online News Consumption and Limited Consideration

Author

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  • Matthijs R. Wildenbeest

    (University of Arizona and CEPR, McClelland Hall, 1130 E Helen St, Tucson, AZ 85721)

Abstract

This paper develops a structural model of online news consumption that explicitly takes into account that consumers may not consider all online news sources. Using a unique data set that contains browsing behavior of a large number of individuals as well as survey data that contains their political outlook, we estimate to what extent online news consumption choices are driven by the ideology and quality of online news sources when consideration is limited. We find that estimation of our consideration set model leads to mostly larger estimates of the quality of news sources and better fits joint visiting patterns observed in the data than a full consideration model. These findings have implications for counterfactuals in which the availability of news sources changes, and may lead to different predictions with respect to how these changes affect online segregation.

Suggested Citation

  • Matthijs R. Wildenbeest, 2022. "Online News Consumption and Limited Consideration," Working Papers 22-10, NET Institute.
    • Handle: RePEc:net:wpaper:2210
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Matthew Gentzkow & Jesse M. Shapiro, 2011. "Ideological Segregation Online and Offline," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 126(4), pages 1799-1839.
    2. Steven Berry & James Levinsohn & Ariel Pakes, 2004. "Differentiated Products Demand Systems from a Combination of Micro and Macro Data: The New Car Market," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 112(1), pages 68-105, February.
    3. Ro'ee Levy, 2021. "Social Media, News Consumption, and Polarization: Evidence from a Field Experiment," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 111(3), pages 831-870, March.
    4. Lee, Younghwan, 2019. "Fast computation algorithm for the random consideration set model," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 179(C), pages 38-41.
    5. Andrey Simonov & Justin Rao, 2022. "Demand for Online News under Government Control: Evidence from Russia," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 130(2), pages 259-309.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    online news; consideration set models; online segregation;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C13 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric and Statistical Methods and Methodology: General - - - Estimation: General
    • D83 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Search; Learning; Information and Knowledge; Communication; Belief; Unawareness
    • L15 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Information and Product Quality
    • L82 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Services - - - Entertainment; Media

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