Kiara Hernandez & Matthew Dardet

This week: Brainstorm Session

Project 1

Kiara Hernandez, "Internet Expansion and Patterns of Small-Dollar Campaign Finance"

(with Ryan Enos, Jacob Brown and Soubhik Barari)

Abstract: How has the Internet impacted political behaviors in the United States? Initial research on this topic has employed maps of 3G Internet coverage with IV and DID designs to answer this question. However, many of these strategies yield results that are overconfident, confounded, biased, or some combination thereof. We present a novel identification strategy leveraging randomness at the border demarcating 3G coverage extent to estimate the effects of receiving 3G Internet on small-dollar campaign donations. Using this design, we find small, consistently positive but insignificant effects of receiving 3G on the number of small-dollar donations in the aggregate and in the absence of significant pretrends. Moreover, we find through analyzing heterogeneity that individuals living in counties with high previous Democratic vote shares who receive access to 3G donate significantly more to online conduit organizations.

Project 2

Matthew Dardet, “Internet Expansion and Patterns of Small-Dollar Campaign Finance”

(with Shun Yamaya, Stanford)

Abstract: Existing research has documented the extent (Brown and Enos 2021) and consequences (Hopkins 2017, Cramer 2016) of partisan sorting in the U.S. Recent studies point to the effects of partisan sorting for contact between groups, discriminatory behavior, and local political participation (Brown N.D.). In this project, we are interested in the behavioral and psychological antecedents to partisan sorting. In the absence of direct contact and explicit social and geographic cues, can individuals accurately identify the partisanship of their neighbors? We test this question with a pilot survey experiment (n= 500) that asks individuals to classify the homes of Democratic and Republican registered voters living on the same street in the U.S.

The American Politics Research Workshop (Gov 3004) meets all academic year, Tuesdays, 12:00 - 2:00 PM, in CGIS K354. This workshop presents an opportunity for graduate students and Harvard faculty to present and receive feedback on their current research. The workshop highlights key theoretical and empirical findings from Harvard affiliates on topics related to American politics.

All interested Harvard affiliates are invited to attend.