nep-cul New Economics Papers
on Cultural Economics
Issue of 2007‒03‒17
two papers chosen by
Roberto Zanola
University of the Piemonte Orientale

  1. Understanding the Internet's relevance to media ownership policy: a model of too many choices By Nagler, Matthew
  2. Media Coverage and Macroeconomic Information Processing By Alexandra Niessen

  1. By: Nagler, Matthew
    Abstract: Does the Internet provide a failsafe against media consolidation in the wake of an easing of media ownership rules? This paper posits a model of news outlet selection on the Internet in which consumers experience cognitive costs that increase with the number of options faced. Consistent with psychological evidence, these costs may be reduced by constraining one’s choice set to “safe bets” familiar from offline (e.g., CNN.com). It is shown that, as the number of outlets grows, dispersion of consumer visitation across outlets inevitably declines. Consequently, independent Internet outlets may fail to mitigate lost outlet independence on other media.
    Keywords: Choice framing; Media ownership; Internet; Differentiated products; Location models
    JEL: L11 L86 D11
    Date: 2006–12–14
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:2180&r=cul
  2. By: Alexandra Niessen
    Abstract: This paper investigates how media coverage influences macroeconomic information processing at the bond market. I provide evidence that a high media coverage of an economic topic increases investor attention prior to the release of the corresponding economic indicator: High media coverage of the business cycle leads to a stronger market reaction to the release of gross domestic product, industrial production and IFO business index than low media coverage. High media coverage of the price level increases the market reaction to the release of producer and consumer price index than low media coverage. High media coverage of unemployment leads to a stronger market reaction to the release of the unemployment rate than low media coverage.
    Keywords: Media Coverage, Information Processing, Economic Indicators.
    JEL: G23 E44 G14
    Date: 2007–03
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hum:wpaper:sfb649dp2007-011&r=cul

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