Do Television and Radio Destroy Social Capital? Evidence from Indonesian Villages
Name
Olken_Do television.pdf
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488.03 KB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
3c0441035d7410d7b4f47144bd7d870f
Author(s)
Olken, Benjamin A.
Date Issued
October 2009
Journal
American Economic Journal: Applied Economics
Publisher
American Economic Association
Citation
Olken, Benjamin A.. 2009. "Do Television and Radio Destroy Social Capital? Evidence from Indonesian Villages." American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 1(4): 1–33. © 2009 American Economic Association.
Version
Final published version
Abstract
This paper investigates the impact of television and radio on social capital in Indonesia. I use two sources of variation in signal reception -- one based on Indonesia's mountainous terrain, and a second based on the differential introduction of private television throughout Indonesia. I find that increased signal reception, which leads to more time watching television and listening to the radio, is associated with less participation in social organizations and with lower self-reported trust. Improved reception does not affect village governance, at least as measured by discussions in village meetings and by corruption in village road projects.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Economics
Terms of Use
Article is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use.
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DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1257/app.1.4.1
