国内内容与地方政治后果：来自公共与私人电视的证据
National content and local political consequences: Evidence from public and private television
Journal of Public Economics · 2026 · [{"name": "Mathias Bühler", "affiliation": ["Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München"]}, {"name": "Andrew Dickens", "affiliation": ["Brock University"]}]
中文摘要
我们考察了20世纪50年代初加拿大电视网络初始推广期间, 公共电视内容与私营电视内容对政治参与和问责的影响。一项禁止市场竞争的政策限制各地区只能接收公共节目或私营节目, 而绝不能同时接收两者。尽管两类电视台都播放公共广播机构的全国性服务, 私营电视台还将这一内容与地方新闻捆绑播出。我们发现, 相对于没有电视的地区, 接触公共广播机构使选民投票率降低了2.1个百分点, 而私营电视地区的政治参与则与电视出现前的水平没有可区分的差异。这种参与不足削弱了连任激励, 并提高了在任优势。因此, 公共电视地区的在任者在议会中较少谈及其选区, 并在唱名投票中表现出更强的政党忠诚度——这些结果与政治问责显著下降相一致。
Abstract
We examine the impact of public versus private television content on political engagement and accountability during the initial rollout of Canada’s television network in the early 1950s. A policy prohibiting market competition restricted districts to receiving either public or private programming, but never both. While both station types aired the public broadcaster’s national service, private stations bundled this content with local news. We find that exposure to the public broadcaster reduced voter turnout by 2.1 percentage points relative to districts without television, while engagement in private television districts remained indistinguishable from pre-television levels. This lack of engagement weakened re-election incentives and increased the incumbency advantage. Consequently, incumbents in public districts spoke less about their constituencies in parliament and demonstrated greater party loyalty in roll-call votes—results consistent with a significant reduction in political accountability.