Applied Micro Seminar : Every Tuesday
Time: 12:15 pm – 13:30 pm
Date: 11th of February
Room : 3001

Guido TABELLINI (Bocconi University) – “Disengaging from Reality, Online Behavior and Unpleasant Political News”

Abstract :

” Why, in the face of scandals and misbehaviors, partisan supporters don’t seem to change their minds about their favored candidates ? We study individuals’ online engagement with negative news on candidates in the 2016 US Presidential Election. Compared to independents, partisan users avoid commenting bad news on their favorite candidate, but seek them on its opponent, a political “ostrich effect”. When they do comment on bad news about their candidate, they try to rationalize them, display a more negative sentiment, and are more likely to cite scandals of the opponent. This behavior is consistent with the predictions of a model of online interactions where payingattention to non-consonant news is emotionally or psychologically costly, while paying attention to consonant ones is pleasing. Because users enjoy receiving positive feedback on their views, social media amplify intrinsic biases that drive ideological segregation”.

Authors : Leonardo D’Amico, Guido Tabellini

Organizers:
Benoît SCHMUTZ (Pôle économie du CREST)
Clément MALGOUYRES (Pôle économie du CREST)

Sponsors:
CREST