Stephanie Zonszein (Alesina Seminar)

See the seminar's full schedule here: Alberto Alesina Seminar on Political Economy

Today's Speaker

Stephanie Zonszein (UC Berkeley), "Turn On, Tune In, Turn Out: Ethnic Radio and Immigrants’ Political Engagement"

Abstract

Does the ethnic media promote the political engagement of minority ethnic immigrants? This is a salient question in Western democracies, where the political incorporation of immigrants is a continuous challenge. Prevailing accounts place the media as a primary cause of growing public disengagement. In contrast, this article argues that the entry of informative-based ethnic media can increase immigrants’ political engagement by changing their informational environment and their representation in media and state institutions. In 2004 the UK Parliament enacted the Community Radio Order to allow the licensing of community radio stations. Leveraging the introduction of this law and geographical variation in the distribution of licenses with a difference-in-differences approach, this article shows that the exposure of minority ethnic immigrants to radio programming targeted at their community substantively increases their turnout in local elections. The results suggest that immigrants’ participation in politics is stimulated by accommodating diversity within common institutions.

Link to paper

Co-sponsored by FAS and IQSS, the Alberto Alesina Seminar on Political Economy supports research-related activities that integrate the study of economics and politics, whether by studying economic behavior in the political process or political behavior in the marketplace. In general, positive political economy is concerned with showing how observed differences among institutions affect political and economic outcomes in various social, economic, and political systems and how the institutions themselves change and develop in response to individual and collective beliefs, preferences, and strategies.

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See the seminar's full schedule at the Alesina Seminar page.

All interested faculty and students are invited to attend.