The Welfare Effects of Social Media
The rise of social media has provoked both optimism about potential societal benefits and concern about harms such as addiction, depression, and political polarization. In a randomized experiment, we find that deactivating Facebook for the four weeks before the 2018 US midterm election (i) reduced online activity, while increasing offline activities such as watching TV alone and socializing with family and friends; (ii) reduced both factual news knowledge and political polarization; (iii) increased subjective well-being; and post-experiment Facebook use. Deactivation reduced post-experiment valuations of Facebook, suggesting that traditional metrics may overstate consumer surplus. (JEL D12, D72, D90, I31, L82, L86, Z13)
Knowledge Spillovers and Corporate Investment in Scientific Research
Ashish Arora, Sharon Belenzon, Sheer Lia · American Economic Review
Tax-Exempt Lobbying: Corporate Philanthropy as a Tool for Political Influence
Marianne Bertrand, Matilde Bombardini, Raymond Fisman, Francesco Trebbi · American Economic Review
Notching R&D Investment with Corporate Income Tax Cuts in China
Chen Zhao, Zhikuo Liu, Juan Carlos Suárez Serrato, Daniel Yi Xu · American Economic Review
Importing Political Polarization? The Electoral Consequences of Rising Trade Exposure
David Autor, David Dorn, Gordon Hanson, Kaveh Majlesi · American Economic Review
Misperceived Social Norms: Women Working Outside the Home in Saudi Arabia
Leonardo Bursztyn, Alessandra L. González, David Yanagizawa-Drott · American Economic Review
Social Media, News Consumption, and Polarization: Evidence from a Field Experiment
Roee Levy · American Economic Review
The Dynamics of Motivated Beliefs
Florian Zimmermann · American Economic Review
Types of Contact: A Field Experiment on Collaborative and Adversarial Caste Integration
Matt Lowe · American Economic Review