Javier Garcia-Arenas

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job market seminar

Javier Garcia-Arenas

MIT Economics
The impact of free media on regime change: Evidence from Russia
Venue

VC Salle 205

Centre de la Vieille-Charité - Salle 205

Centre de la Vieille Charité
2 rue de la Charité
13002 Marseille

Date(s)
Monday, January 25 2016| 2:30pm to 4:00pm
Contact(s)

Cecilia Garcia-Peñalosa: cecilia.garcia-penalosa[at]univ-amu.fr

Abstract

Can free media become a powerful lever to make regime change possible? Are Western countries successful in exporting their values to other countries and triggering regime change abroad? I study these questions in the context of Russia in the early 90s when the Soviet Union was crumbling. In particular, I analyze the impact of Radio Liberty on the 1991 Russian presidential elections, which were the first democratic elections in the country. In order to study the effects of this American radio broadcasting from outside Russia, I use a novel empirical strategy exploiting ionospheric variation, which affects shortwave propagation over long distances, measured by NASA with the aim of obtaining a measure of radio availability in each Russian electoral district. The results show a significant effect of these broadcasts in favor of Yeltsin and a negative significant effect on communist support. Such results are robust and bolstered by a series of placebo exercises, and survey evidence. Thus, this paper documents that free media can play an important role in political processes of regime change.