Dear Applied Statistics Workshop Community,
Our next meeting of the semester will be on February 1 (12:00 EST). Elliott
Ash will present "Televised Debates and Emotional Appeals in Politics:
Evidence from C-SPAN."
<Where>
Hybrid: CGIS K354 or Zoom (the presenter will join us via Zoom)
Bagged lunches are available for pick-up at 11:40 (CGIS K354).
Zoom:
https://harvard.zoom.us/j/99181972207?pwd=Ykd3ZzVZRnZCSDZqNVpCSURCNnVvQT09
<Abstract>
We study the effect of televised broadcasts of floor debates on the
rhetoric and behavior of U.S. Congress Members, focusing on a measure of
emotionality, relative to rationality, constructed using computational
linguistics methods. First, we show in a differences-in-differences
analysis that the introduction of C-SPAN broadcasts in 1979 increased the
use of emotional appeals in the House relative to the Senate, where
televised floor debates were not introduced until later. Second, we use
exogenous variation in C-SPAN channel positioning as an instrument for
C-SPAN viewership by Congressional district, and show that House Members
from districts with higher C-SPAN viewership are more emotive, rather than
deliberative, in floor debates. Contra accountability models of
transparency, C-SPAN has no effect on measures of legislative effort on
behalf of constituents, and if anything it reduces a politician’s
constituency orientation. We find that local news coverage – that is,
mediated rather than direct transparency – has the opposite effect of
C-SPAN, increasing legislative effort but with no effect on emotional
rhetoric. Looking to electoral pressures as a mechanism, we find the
emotionality effect of C-SPAN is strongest in competitive districts.
Finally, C-SPAN exposure increases the incumbency advantage, and the
incumbency effect is much larger among Congress Members who speak
emotionally. These results highlight the importance of audience and
mediation in the political impacts of higher transparency.
<2022-2023 Schedule>
GOV 3009 Website:
https://projects.iq.harvard.edu/applied.stats.workshop-gov3009
Calendar:
https://calendar.google.com/calendar/embed?src=c_3v93pav9fjkkldrbu9snbhned8…
Best,
Shusei