Economics Seminar（2018-20）

Topic: The Internet, Public Good Provision and Inequality: Evidence from Radio Broadcasting in China

Speaker: Shi Ce, Department of Economics, The Chinese University of Hong Kong)

Time: Tuesday,Dec.4, 13:30-15:00p.m

Place: Room 217, Guanghua Building 2

Abstract:

While the Internet brings many benefits to the society, its competitive spillovers on traditional sectors and industries can generate differential effects on consumers. In this paper, we take a novel perspective to study the Internet spillovers on public provision of radio broadcasting in China and understand the underlying mechanisms and welfare implications. We collect yearly provincial-level data of radio programs in China for the period of 2005-2016 and use information on broadband infrastructure as an instrument to address the potential endogeneity problem. We find that the Internet has not only significantly reduced the total hours of broadcasting but also led to reduction in both informational contents and entertainment. We show further evidence that much of the reduction in radio programs - especially news and social-service contents - is due to the adverse effects of the Internet on radio advertising. Lastly, using additional listernership data, we recover heterogeneous consumer tastes for distinct genres of program and suggest that reduced radio hours have more pronounced (negative) effects on the less educated and elderly people.

Introduction:

C. Matthew Shi, Ph.D., is currently Assistant Professor of Economics at the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK). He works in the fields of Industrial Organization and Applied Microeconomics. His research interests include media and advertising, discrete-choice models, and IO issues in emerging markets.

Your participation is warmly welcomed!