Media Economics

A concise introduction to the key ideas and issues in the study of media economics, drawing on a broad range of case studies - from Amazon and Twitter, to Apple and Netflix - to illustrate how economic paradigms are not just theories, but provide important practical insights into how the media operates today. Understanding the economic paradigms at work in media industries and markets is vitally important for the analysis of the media system as a whole. The changing dynamics of media production, distribution and consumption are stretching the capacity of established economic paradigms. In addition to succinct accounts of neo-classical and critical political economics, the text offers fresh perspectives for understanding media drawn from two 'heterodox' approaches: institutional economics and evolutionary economics. Applying these paradigms to vital topics and case studies, Media Economics stresses the value – and limits – of contending economic approaches in understanding how the media operates today. It is essential reading for all students of Media and Communication Studies, and also those from Economics, Policy Studies, Business Studies and Marketing backgrounds who are studying the media. Table of Contents: 1. Media Economics: The Mainstream Approach 2. Critical Political Economy of the Media 3. Institutional Economics 4. Evolutionary Economics 5. Case Studies and Conclusions

Essays on Development Policy and the Political Economy of Conflict

Electoral Rules and Leader Selection: Experimental Evidence from Ugandan Community Groups. Despite a large body of work documenting how electoral systems affect policy outcomes, less is known about their impact on leader selection. We study this by comparing two types of participatory decision making in Ugandan community groups: (i) vote by secret ballot and (ii) open discussion with consensus. Random assignment allows us to estimate the causal impact of the rules on leader types and social service delivery. Vote groups are found to elect leaders more similar to the average member while discussion group leaders are positively selected on socio-economic characteristics. Further, dropout rates are significantly higher in discussion groups, particularly for poorer members. After 3.5 years, vote groups are larger in size and their members save less and get smaller loans. We conclude that the secret ballot vote creates more inclusive groups while open discussion groups favor the already economically successful. Preparing for Genocide: Community Meetings in Rwanda. How do political elites prepare the civilian population for participation in violent conflict? We empirically investigate this question using data from the Rwandan Genocide in 1994. Every Saturday before 1994, Rwandan villagers had to meet to work on community infrastructure. The practice was highly politicized and, according to anecdotal evidence, regularly used by the political elites for spreading propaganda in the years before the genocide. This paper presents the first quantitative evidence of this abuse of the community meetings. To establish causality, we exploit cross-sectional variation in meeting intensity induced by exogenous weather fluctuations. We find that an additional rainy Saturday resulted in a five percent lower civilian participation rate in genocide violence. Selection into Borrowing: Survey Evidence from Uganda. In this paper, I study how changes to the standard credit contract affect loan demand and selection into borrowing, using a representative sample of urban micro enterprises, most with no borrowing experience. Hypothetical loan demand questions are used to test whether firm owners respond to changes in loans' contractual terms and whether take-up varies by firms' risk type and other firm owner characteristics. The results indicate that contracts with lower interest rates and less stringent collateral requirements attract less risky borrowers, suggesting that there is scope for improvement of standard financial contract terms. Credit Contract Structure and Firm Growth: Evidence from a Randomized Control Trial. We study the effects of credit contract structure on firm outcomes among small and medium sized firms. A randomized control trial was carried out to distinguish between some of the key constraints to efficient credit use connected to the firms' business environment and production function, namely (i) backloaded returns (ii) uncertain returns and (iii) indivisible fixed costs. Each firm was followed for the 1-year loan cycle. We describe the experiment and present preliminary results from the first 754 out of 2,340 firms to have completed the loan cycle. Firms offered a grace period have higher profits and higher household income than firms receiving a rebate later on as well as the control group. They also increased the number of paid employees  and reduced the number of unpaid employees, an effect also found among firms that received a cash subsidy at the beginning of the loan cycle. We discuss potential mechanisms behind these effects.

On the Economics and Politics of Mobility

Exit, Voice and Political Change: Evidence from Swedish Mass Migration to the United States. During the Age of Mass Migration, 30 million Europeans immigrated to the United States. We study the long-term political effects of this large-scale migration episode on origin communities using detailed historical data from Sweden. To instrument for emigration, we exploit severe local frost shocks that sparked an initial wave of emigration, interacted with within-country travel costs. Because Swedish emigration was highly path dependent, the initial shocks strongly predict total emigration over 50 years. Our estimates show that emigration substantially increased membership in local labor organizations, the strongest political opposition groups at the time. Furthermore, emigration caused greater strike participation, and mobilized voter turnout and support for left-wing parties in national elections. Emigration also had formal political effects, as measured by welfare expenditures and adoption of inclusive political institutions. Together, our findings indicate that large-scale emigration can achieve long-lasting effects on the political equilibrium in origin communities. Mass Migration and Technological Innovation at the Origin. This essay studies the effects of migration on technological innovations in origin communities. Using historical data from Sweden, we find that large-scale emigration caused a long-run increase in patent innovations in origin municipalities. Our IV estimate shows that a ten percent increase in emigration entails a 7 percent increase in a muncipality’s number of patents. Weighting patents by a measure of their economic value, the positive effects are further increased. Discussing possible mechanisms, we suggest that low skilled labor scarcity may be an explanation for these results.  Richer (and Holier) Than Thou? The Impact of Relative Income Improvements on Demand for Redistribution. We use a tailor-made survey on a Swedish sample to investigate how individuals' relative income affects their demand for redistribution. We first document that a majority misperceive their position in the income distribution and believe that they are poorer, relative to others, than they actually are. We then inform a subsample about their true relative income, and find that individuals who are richer than they initially thought demand less redistribution. This result is driven by individuals with prior right-of-center political preferences who view taxes as distortive and believe that effort, rather than luck, drives individual economic success. Wealth, home ownership and mobility. Rent controls on housing have long been thought to reduce labor mobility and allocative efficiency. We study a policy that allowed renters to purchase their rent-controlled apartments at below market prices, and examine the effects of home ownership and wealth on mobility. Treated individuals have a substantially higher likelihood of moving to a new home in a given year. The effect corresponds to a 30 percent increase from the control group mean. The size of the wealth shock predicts lower mobility, while the positive average effect can be explained by tenants switching from the previous rent-controlled system to market-priced condominiums. By contrast, we do not find that the increase in residential mobility leads to a greater probability of moving to a new place of work.

Stalinismin lyhyt kurssi : Suomalaiset Moskovan Lenin-koulussa 1926-1938

This study of the Finns at the International Lenin School (ILS) reflects history of the Soviet Union during Stalin's era, history of the Communist International (Comintern) as well as history of Finnish communism. The life span of the ILS (1926-1938) matches up with creating and establishing the power structures of Stalinism. Both the ILS and Finnish Communism in the USSR became casualties of the Great Terror (1937-1938). After the WW2, however, the Soviet education was appreciated inside the Communist Party of Finland (CPF). If Finland would have become People's Democracy, the former ILS students would have composed the inner circle of the new "democratic" government. The Finnish teachers of the ILS were leaders of the CPF that was headquartered in Moscow. At the ILS studied in total 141 Finnish communists. The purpose of the ILS was to educate the communist parties' leading stratum of functionaries. They were supposed to internalize current values, methods and discipline of the Bolsheviks. This study evaluates the effects of the total school experience on the Finns that often ended in another total institution in Finland: prison. The curricula of the ILS consisted of theory of Marxism-Leninism, party history, political economics and themes of campaigns of Stalinism. The ILS year included participation in Bolshevik party life and practical work. During summer excursions (praktikas) the students could acquaint themselves with building of socialism in the Soviet Republics. At the ILS, intention to ideological moulding was not hidden. The students were supposed to adopt the Stalinist identity of the professional revolutionaries of the era. The ILS was saturated with ideology and propaganda. This study analyzes especially uses of history as vehicle of ideological standardisation and as instrument of power. Stalin contributed personally to shortcomings of history writing of the communist party. Later he supervised writing of the inclusive handbook of communism, "History of the All-Union Communist Party. Short Course". Special attention will be paid to the effects of Stalin's intervention at the ILS and inside the CPF. The life of the Finns at the ILS and outside the school is described at grass roots. The dividing line between personal and political is analyzed by charting emotional, intimate and bodily experiences of the Finns of the ILS. The fates of the ILS Finns after the studying or teaching period in Moscow are explored in detail. The protagonist among the teachers is Yrjö Sirola that was called "father of the CPF cadres". The Finnish ILS teachers and the formed students that had remained in the USSR were most severely hit by the Great Terror. The Soviet education had most importance in Finland of post WW2 period. The training at the ILS, however, did not contribute to revolution in Finland. The main heading of the study, "A Short Course of Stalinism", crystallises interpretation of the ILS as seat of learning of ideological unity of Stalinism. On the other hand, the title includes a statement of incompleteness of the Stalinist education if the schooling at the ILS had remained in one year.

The Criminalization of Mass Starvations: From Natural Disaster to Crime Against Humanity

Edkins Jenny, 'The Criminalisation of Mass Starvations: From Natural Disaster to Crime Against Humanity', In: 'The New Famines: Why Famines Persist in an Era of Globalisation', (New York: Routledge), pp.50-65, 2006 RAE2008

La política como ejercicio de la libertad

Hannah Arendt esboza una fuerte crítica a las teorías políticas modernas y a la inclusión de la economía en los asuntos del Estado con el surgimiento de la economía política. Según ella, en esta línea del pensamiento moderno se encuentran las razones que explican la crisis actual de lo político; crisis representada en el surgimiento de los totalitarismos del siglo XX y en la actual indiferencia política de las masas. Este texto expondrá los argumentos por los cuales se puede afirmar que la crítica de Hannah Arendt se refiere al pensamiento contractualista, tomando como modelo a Thomas Hobbes y John Locke, para replantear el concepto de libertad moderno, y con éste los conceptos de poder y autoridad. Replanteamiento en el que se encontrará una respuesta teórica frente a la pregunta por el verdadero sentido de lo político en su tesis de la acción. De igual forma, se expondrá el pensamiento de James Buchanan como un contraejemplo a lo que Arendt esboza como sentido de lo político y la libertad con la que los hombres entran a participar de la comunidad política.

Partial decentralization as a safeguard against favoritism

In this paper I investigate the optimal level of decentralization of tasks for the provision of a local public good. I enrich the well-known trade-off between internalization of spillovers (that favors centralization) and accountability (that favors decentralization) by considering that public goods are produced through multiple tasks. This adds an additional institutional setting, partial decentralization, to the classical choice between full decentralization and full centralization. The main results are that partial decentralization is optimal when both the variance of exogenous shocks to electorate’s utility is large and the electorate expects high performance from politicians. I also show that the optimal institutional setting depends on the degree of substitutability / complementarity between tasks. In particular, I show that a large degree of substitutability between tasks makes favoritism more likely, which increases the desirability of partial decentralization as a safeguard against favoritism.

Un marco analítico de la discriminación laboral. Teorias, modalidades y estudios para Colombia

Este documento presenta un resumen de las principales corrientes teóricas que han tratado de dar una explicación a la discriminación laboral, asi como una exposición pedagógica de las principales modalidades mediante las cuales dicha discriminación se manifiesta. Se realiza un particular análisis de las consecuencias que dicha discriminación tiene, en particular para el caso de los jóvenes de América Latina, y finalmente se realiza una revisión de los estudios que sobre el tema se han realizado en Colombia, sus aspectos metodológicos y las conclusiones a las que dichos estudios han llegado.

A influência norte-americana no sistema contábil brasileiro: elementos para se repensar a história da contabilidade no Brasil

O objetivo principal desse estudo foi o de verificar como se processou a influência norte-americana no sistema contábil do Brasil. Baseados na análise do estudo da American Accounting Association, dos documentos dos acordos MEC/USAID, para a modernização da Administração da Universidade Brasileira e para criação dos cursos de pós-graduação ligados à área econômica, e dos fatos que concorreram para a elaboração e promulgação da Lei 6.404 de 15 de dezembro de 1976, Lei das Sociedades por Ações, constatamos a grande relação da contabilidade enquanto instrumento de apoio à evolução econômica em nosso País. No Brasil, a influência americana foi de grande importância ao propiciar condições financeiras e culturais para a criação das bases para a concretização do modelo econômico vigente, introduzindo novas técnicas de ensino e de organização nos níveis: primário, secundário e superior. A partir dos anos 50, ampliou-se o número de estabelecimentos de ensino superior público e privado, implementando-se a pós-graduação nas áreas de economia, administração e ciências contábeis, realizaram-se as reformas na administração pública e universitária, culminando com a elaboração de uma série de Leis, sustentáculo da economia brasileira atual. Nesse sentido, torna-se imperativo, a adoção de uma postura questionadora no ambiente contábil, de forma a permitir a emergência de uma consciência crítica no contador, propiciando-lhes condições favoráveis ao exercício profissional, com vistas a uma participação, não alienada, nas decisões políticas, econômicas e jurídicas, que definem os caminhos da contabilidade.

Desnutrição e aprendizagem: uma abordagem sobre a controvertida relação

Este estudo versa sobre a controvertida relação elitre a desnutrição e a aprendizagem procurando identificar os pontos em comum, ou não, entre essas duas áreas. O objetivo deste trabalho é contribuir com fundamentos teóricos e práticos que possibilitem a análise e reflexão do tema apresentado. Observamos que há diferentes abordagens sobre a relação desnutrição e aprendizagem e, p~ ra cada dimensão do problema estudado, procuramos oferecer as reflexões necessárias ao processo ensino-aprendizagem. O trabalho apresenta, também, alguns dados provenientes de uma pesquisa de campo realizada pela autora com professores e orientadores educacionais de diversas escolas do Município do Rio de Janeiro. Embora a pesquisa, em si, não tenha sido o fio condutor deste estudo, seus resultados, entretanto, poderão servir como colaboração e subsídio aocontextualmente, a partir de sua própria realidade. Sem ter a pretensio de ter esgotado ~odo o referencial teórico sobre o assunto, esse estudo teve, também, a finalidade àe provocar o debate sobre'o tema, oferecer subsídio aos professores, assim como propiciar meios novas pesquisas nesta área. para Há que ressaltar que o problema da desnutriçio envolve variáveis de outros setores tais como: social, poli tica, econômica e cultural, portanto, ele nao pode ser analisado isoladamente; e seu estudo requer, por conseguinte, aprofundamento também nas outras áreas. As duas suposições de trabalho, levantadas no iní cio do estudo, continuam em aberto porque, apesar da desnutriçio nao ser a única responsável pelo fracasso escolar, ela,.a desnutriçio, provavelmente, será u~ dos fatores prejudiciais ao desempenho satisfatório do aluno. tema estudado.em trabalhos posteriores. De acordo como levantamento teórico, podemos con cluir que não existe um consenso a respeito da relação desnu trição e aprendizagem, pois, os próprios autores, nao excluem de suas análises os pontos referenciais das outras abordagens. Observa-se, então, que este tema, tão rico e tão polêmico, ainda não oferece uma dimensão única sobre seus resultados, devendo o educador, por isso mesmo, trabalhá-lo,

Ensaios em economia política aplicada

Esta tese é constituída por três capítulos que se enquadram na área de Microeconomia Aplicada, sendo dois deles de Economia Política Aplicada e o outro de Economia da Educação. O primeiro capítulo investiga se a eleição de mulheres para a prefeitura impacta a inserção de outras mulheres no mercado político, reduzindo-se assim uma preferência pré-estabelecida pelos eleitores de não votar em mulheres. Para realizar o exercício, utiliza-se um experimento de Regressão em Descontinuidade onde explora-se eleições em que uma mulher perdeu ou ganhou por uma margem pequena de votos para um candidato homem, a ponto do gênero eleito ser aleatório. Os resultados mostram que a eleição de uma mulher tem impacto apenas em ambientes mais propícios a eleger mulheres (o que foi mensurado aqui pelo percentual de vereadoras eleitas) ou em locais onde os candidatos tinham maior qualidade (medido pela escolaridade). O segundo artigo estima o impacto da divulgação da qualidade escolar sobre a migração dos alunos entre escolas. A ideia é que ao tornar-se público o sinal de qualidade, escolas e alunos têm incentivos para se adaptarem conforme sua demanda por qualidade. Para isso, explora-se um desenho de Regressão em Descontinuidade Fuzzy devido a um dos critérios de divulgação do IDEB ser a escola ter no mínimo 20 alunos matriculados na série avaliada. Os resultados mostram que as escolas que tiveram IDEB divulgado tiveram maior migração de alunos e, em especial, de alunos em condições de vulnerabilidade. O terceiro artigo avalia a hipótese de exogeneidade da abertura comercial brasileira, promovida no final da década de 1980 e início da de 1990. Há uma vasta literatura que explora os efeitos da abertura comercial sobre o mercado de trabalho, desigualdade de renda, pobreza e crescimento econômico. Tais trabalhos consideram o processo de liberalização brasileiro como não correlacionado com as demandas de nenhum setor de atividade econômica específico, o que justificaria utilizar o período de abertura como um instrumento para lidar com endogeneidade nas estimações. Nós apresentamos evidência de que, embora não correlacionado com nenhum setor em especial, a abertura estava correlacionada com a distribuição de capital político dos governos nesse período, e pode ter funcionado como uma estratégica clara de fortalecimento político ou, pelo menos, teve o contexto político como um facilitador do processo.