Telecracy: Testing for Channels of Persuasion
研究意大利电视政治信息长期偏向贝卢斯科尼的现象，利用数字电视转换冲击发现频道增加导致贝卢斯科尼得票率下降5.5-7.5个百分点，且对老年和低教育选民影响更大。
We consider the long-lived slant towards Berlusconi in political information on Italian television (TV ). We exploit a shock to the slanted exposure of viewers: idiosyncratic deadlines to switch to digital TV from 2008 to 2012, which increased the number of freeview channels tenfold. The switch caused a drop in the vote share of Berlusconi's coalition by between 5.5 and 7.5 percentage points. The effect was stronger in towns with older and less educated voters. At least 20 percent of digital users changed their voting behavior after the introduction of digital TV. Our evidence is consistent with the existence of persuasion-biased viewers.