The Returns to Viral Media: The Case of US Campaign Contributions (with Johannes Böken, Mirko Draca, and Nicola Mastrorocco)
Abstract
Social media has changed the structure of mass communication. In this paper we explore its role in influencing political donations. Using a daily dataset of campaign contributions and Twitter activity for US Members of Congress 2019-2020, we find that attention on Twitter (as measured by likes) is positively correlated with the amount of daily small donations received. However, this is not true for everybody: the impact on campaign donations is highly skewed, indicating very concentrated returns to attention that are in line with a ‘winner-takes-all’ market. Our results are confirmed in a geography-based causal design linking member’s donations across states.
About this workshop
The Political Economy + AI seminar is an online seminar focused on political economy research using AI and computational methods. We welcome work in progress and methods talks on these topics.
Formerly the Public Governance working group, the seminar is organized jointly by King's College London and Université Paris-Dauphine – PSL.
More information can be found on the website of the Political Economy + AI seminar.
Periodicity: Mondays from 17h30 to 18h30 (Paris time).