Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/104377 
Year of Publication: 
2012
Series/Report no.: 
Munich Discussion Paper No. 2012-19
Publisher: 
Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Volkswirtschaftliche Fakultät, München
Abstract: 
This paper examines the impact of exposure to foreign media on the economic behavior of agents in a totalitarian regime. We study private consumption choices focusing on former East Germany, where differential access to Western television was determined by geographic features. Using data collected after the transition to a market economy, we find no evidence of a significant impact of previous exposure to Western television on aggregate consumption levels. However, exposure to Western broadcasts affects the composition of consumption, biasing choices in favor of categories of goods with high intensity of pre-reunification advertisement. The effects vanish by 1998.
Subjects: 
Consumption
Media
Television
Advertising
East Germany
Communism
JEL: 
D12
E21
Z10
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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