Persuasion is a vital part of politics—who wins elections and policy disputes often depends
on which side can persuade more people. Given this centrality, the study of persuasion has …

This article provides a review of recent literature in economics on the effect of mass media
on politics. The focus is on the welfare effects of mass media. I also discuss the likely …

Many critics raise concerns about the prevalence of 'echo chambers' on social media and
their potential role in increasing political polarization. However, the lack of available data …

Widespread belief in misinformation circulating online is a critical challenge for modern
societies. While research to date has focused on psychological and political antecedents to …

The rise of social media has provoked both optimism about potential societal benefits and
concern about harms such as addiction, depression, and political polarization. In a …

Widespread misperceptions about COVID-19 and the novel coronavirus threaten to
exacerbate the severity of the pandemic. We conducted preregistered survey experiments in …

Following the 2016 US presidential election, many have expressed concern about the
effects of false stories (“fake news”), circulated largely through social media. We discuss the …

We study how social media affects election outcomes in the United States. We use variation
in the number of Twitter users across counties induced by early adopters at the 2007 South …

Significant theories of democratic accountability hinge on how political campaigns affect
Americans' candidate choices. We argue that the best estimate of the effects of campaign …

We demonstrate that exposure to the news media causes Americans to take public stands
on specific issues, join national policy conversations, and express themselves publicly—all …