Description:

Aaron Kirkman (Northwestern University):

"Radio Broadcasting and Political Activity"

Abstract: This paper studies the effects of the spread of commercial radio on political participation and political competition in the United States during the 1920s. A simple differences-in-differences analysis finds that the introduction of radio broadcasts to a county is strongly correlated with a rise in voter turnout and electoral competition among political parties, possibly due to government regulation which mandated that broadcasts serve the public interest. The instrumental variables strategy exploits the fact that geographical characteristics like elevation and average groundwave conductivity affect an area's value as a site for a radio station.