A Tear in the Iron Curtain: The Impact of Western Television on Consumption Behavior
研究前东德地区因地理差异导致的西方电视接触差异对消费选择的影响，发现虽未改变总消费水平，但使消费偏向于统一前广告密集的商品类别，且该效应在1998年消失。
This paper examines the impact of exposure to foreign media on the economic behavior of agents in a totalitarian regime. We study private consumption choices focusing on the former East Germany, where differential access to Western television was determined by geographic features. Using data collected after the transition to a market economy, we find no evidence of a significant impact of previous exposure to Western television on aggregate consumption levels. However, exposure to Western broadcasts affects the composition of consumption, biasing choices in favor of categories of goods with a high intensity of prereunification advertisement. The effects vanish by 1998.