E-Lections: Voting Behavior and the Internet

Citation

Falck O, Gold R & Heblich S (2012) E-Lections: Voting Behavior and the Internet. IZA Discussion Paper, 6545. http://www.iza.org/en/webcontent/publications/papers/viewAbstract?dp_id=6545

Abstract
This paper analyses the effect of information disseminated by the Internet on voting behavior. We address endogeneity in Internet availability by exploiting regional and technological peculiarities of the preexisting voice telephony network that hinder the roll-out of fixed-line broadband infrastructure for high-speed Internet. We find small negative effects of Internet availability on voter turnout, and no evidence that the Internet systematically benefits single parties. Robustness tests including placebo estimations from the pre-Internet era confirm our results. We relate differences in the Internet effect between national and local elections to a crowding out of national but not local newspapers.

Keywords
elections; political economy; instrumental variables; mass media; internet

JEL codes

• D72: Political Processes: Rent-seeking, Lobbying, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior
• C50: Econometric Modeling: General
• L86: Information and Internet Services; Computer Software