Lost in Transmission: Evaluating Internet Effects on Citizens' Attitudes Towards the European Union in Times of Crisis

38 Pages Posted: 23 Aug 2012 Last revised: 4 Jul 2014

See all articles by Leonardo Baccini

Leonardo Baccini

McGill University

Maria Laura Sudulich

Université Libre de Bruxelles

Matthew Wall

Swansea University

Date Written: August 23, 2012

Abstract

Previous studies suggest that citizens' attitudes towards the European Union (EU) are influenced by media coverage of EU institutions and policies. To date, empirical studies have investigated the effects of TV and newspaper consumption on euro-skepticism. However, the role of the Internet remains under-explored. In this study we combine data on broadband availability with respondent geo-location data from the 2011 Irish National Election Study, which allows us to measure whether respondents live in an area with broadband coverage. We use this dataset to perform a quasi-experimental analysis that identif es the e ffect of online news-gathering on citizens' evaluations of the extent to which the European Union and the Euro are culpable for the current economic crisis. To allow for heterogeneous treatment effects, we implement local average response functions (LARF) in our analysis. We find that those citizens who source political information online are more prone to blame the EU for (mis)managing the current economic crisis than those who do not.

Keywords: economic crisis, internet, EU, LARF, causal inference

Suggested Citation

Baccini, Leonardo and Sudulich, Maria Laura and Wall, Matthew, Lost in Transmission: Evaluating Internet Effects on Citizens' Attitudes Towards the European Union in Times of Crisis (August 23, 2012). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2134764 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2134764

Leonardo Baccini (Contact Author)

McGill University ( email )

1001 Sherbrooke St. W
Montreal, Quebec H3A 1G5
Canada

Maria Laura Sudulich

Université Libre de Bruxelles ( email )

CP 132 Av FD Roosevelt 50
Brussels, Brussels 1050
Belgium

Matthew Wall

Swansea University

Singleton Park
Singleton Park
Swansea, SA2 8PP
United Kingdom

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