Bandyopadhyay, Siddhartha and Chatterjee, Kalyan and Roy, Jaideep (2015) Manufacturing extremism: political consequences of profit-seeking media. Discussion Paper. University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK.
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Abstract
We analyze the consequences of a monopolistic, non-partisan, profit-maximizing media on policy divergence. The media undertakes costly coverage that may reveal the quality of an office-seeking political challenger only if quality-conscious voters pay an access fee. Voters are ideologically homogenous and the incumbent politican is a populist with known quality. We show that while media absence implies a populist challenger, media presence yields platform extremism: it creates demand for information about quality and provides incentives to the media to invest in coverage that are exploited by high-quality challengers to signal strength.
JEL Classifiers: C72, D72, D82
| Type of Work: | Monograph (Discussion Paper) |
|---|---|
| School/Faculty: | Colleges (2008 onwards) > College of Social Sciences |
| Number of Pages: | 30 |
| Department: | Birmingham Business School |
| Date: | 22 December 2015 |
| Series/Collection Name: | Birmingham Business School Discussion Paper Series |
| Keywords: | Unobserved quality, Political challenger, Demand for electoral news, Media coverage, Platform extremism |
| Subjects: | H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General) J Political Science > JA Political science (General) |
| Copyright Status: | This discussion paper is copyright of the University and the author. In addition, parts of the paper may feature content whose copyright is owned by a third party, but which has been used either by permission or under the Fair Dealing provisions. The intellectual property rights in respect of this work are as defined by the terms of any licence that is attached to the paper. Where no licence is associated with the work, any subsequent use is subject to the terms of The Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 (or as modified by any successor legislation). Any reproduction of the whole or part of this paper must be in accordance with the licence or the Act (whichever is applicable) and must be properly acknowledged. For non-commercial research and for private study purposes, copies of the paper may be made/distributed and quotations used with due attribution. Commercial distribution or reproduction in any format is prohibited without the permission of the copyright holders. |
| Copyright Holders: | The Authors and the University of Birmingham |
| ID Code: | 2096 |
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