We assess the influence of moneyed interests on legislative decisions. Our theory predicts that the vote outcome distribution and donation flows in a legislature feature a discontinuity at the approval threshold of bills if special interest groups are involved in vote buying. Testing the...

We document the importance of local information in mass media for the political engagement of citizens and accountability of politicians. We study this in the context of Canada, where until 1958, competition in television markets was suppressed-Canadians received either public or private...

The diffusion of social media coincided with a worsening of mental health conditions among adolescents and young adults in the United States, giving rise to speculation that social media might be detrimental to mental health. In this paper, we provide the first quasi-experimental estimates of...

Political parties play a crucial gatekeeping role in elections, including controlling electoral resources, candidate recruitment, and electoral list compositions. In making these strategic choices, parties aim to encourage candidates to invest in the campaign, while also trying to secure...

We analyze the impact of the Network Enforcement Act, the first regulation which aims at restraining hate speech on large social media platforms. Using a difference-in- differences framework, we measure the causal impact of the German law on the prevalence of hateful content on German Twitter....

We study the causal effects of increasing the transparency of parliamentary speeches on polarization and other types of MP behavior. Our research design utilizes the 1989 introduction of TV broadcasting to those Finnish government's parliamentary question hours held on the first Thursday of...

How do the media affect public support for democratic institutions in a fragile democracy? What role do they play in a dictatorial regime? We study these questions in the context of Germany of the 1920s and 1930s. During the democratic period, when the Weimar government introduced progovernment...

How far can the media protect or undermine democratic institutions in unconsolidated democracies, and how persuasive can they be in ensuring public support for dictator's policies? We study this question in the context of Germany between 1929 and 1939. Using geographical and temporal variation...

We study the causal effects of increasing the transparency of parliamentary speeches on polarization and other types of MP behavior. Our research design utilizes the 1989 introduction of TV broadcasting to those Finnish government's parliamentary question hours held on the first Thursday of...

In der Corona-Pandemie erfahren soziale Dienstleistungsberufe als "systemrelevante Berufe" eine hohe Aufmerksamkeit und öffentliche Wertschätzung. Vielfach wurde in der Vergangenheit darauf hingewiesen, dass soziale Arbeit in Deutschland strukturell unterbewertet ist. Auch wenn die akute...