The political economy of lockdown: does free media matter?

Besley, Timothy and Dray, Sacha (2023) The political economy of lockdown: does free media matter? European Journal of Political Economy, 78. ISSN 0176-2680

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Abstract

This paper studies the role of free media in how governments and the public responded to the COVID-19 pandemic. We first document the presence of policy and behavioural responsiveness during the early phase of the pandemic. Using a panel data of daily COVID-19 deaths, lockdown policies, and mobility changes in 155 countries, we find that governments were more likely to impose a lockdown, and citizens to reduce their mobility, as the initial number of deaths increased. To measure the role of media freedom on responsiveness given endogeneity in death reporting, we simulate deaths from a calibrated SEIR model as an instrument for reported deaths. Using this approach, we find evidence that the presence of free media mattered for the timing of early responses to COVID-19. Responsiveness to deaths was limited to citizens in free-media countries, and accounted for 40% of the difference in lockdown decision and mobility changes between free-media and censored-media countries. In support of the role of free media, we show that differences in responsiveness are not explained by a range of other country characteristics such as the level of income, education or democracy. We also find evidence that citizens with access to free media were better informed about the pandemic and had more responsive levels of online searches about COVID-19, supporting the view that free media served to inform the public on the risks of COVID-19.

Item Type:	Article
Official URL:	https://www.sciencedirect.com/journal/european-jou...
Additional Information:	© 2023 The Author(s)
Divisions:	Economics School of Public Policy ?? SCPP ??
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HB Economic Theory J Political Science
JEL classification:	D - Microeconomics > D7 - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making > D72 - Economic Models of Political Processes: Rent-Seeking, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior L - Industrial Organization > L8 - Industry Studies: Services > L82 - Entertainment; Media (Performing Arts, Visual Arts, Broadcasting, Publishing, etc.) D - Microeconomics > D7 - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making > D78 - Positive Analysis of Policy-Making and Implementation
Date Deposited:	23 Jan 2023 10:54
Last Modified:	22 Apr 2024 17:30
URI:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/117975

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