Garz, Marcel and Maiting Zhuang. 2024. “Media Coverage and Pandemic Behaviour: Evidence from Sweden.” Health Economics, 33 (6): 1319-1367.
We study the effect of media coverage on individual behaviour during a public health crisis. For this purpose, we collect a unique dataset of 200,000 newspaper articles about the Covid-19 pandemic from Sweden -- one of the few countries that did not impose lockdowns or curfews. We show that mentions of Covid-19 significantly lowered the number of visits to workplaces and retail and recreation areas, while increasing the duration of stays in residential locations. Using two different identification strategies, we show that these effects are causal. The impacts are largest when Covid-19 news stories are more locally relevant, more visible and more factual. We find larger behavioural effects for articles that reference crisis managers (as opposed to medical experts) and contain explicit public health advice. These results have wider implications for the design of public communications and the value of the local media.
Zhuang, Maiting. 2022. “Intergovernmental Conflict and Censorship: Evidence from China’s Anti-corruption Campaign.” Journal of the European Economic Association, 20 (6): 2540–2585.
[Teaching materials] [Replication files]
I study how Chinese newspapers report on the national anti-corruption campaign, by collecting a large-scale dataset of articles in print and corresponding social media posts. Despite greater reader interest, local newspapers underreport and deemphasise corruption scandals involving high-level officials from their own province. Underreporting is greater when a newspaper does not rely on advertising revenue and a corrupt official is well connected. City-level newspapers report less about corruption in their own city, but are more likely to report about corruption within the provincial government. I present suggestive evidence that this type of localised censorship can reduce the accountability of local governments.
Zhuang, Maiting. 2019. "Political Connections and Higher Education." Economics of Transition and Institutional Change, 27 (1): 67–97.
Do political connections affect investment in human capital? This paper studies the higher education decisions of politically connected and unconnected students during China’s economic transition. Using the sequential introduction of reforms, I show that economic liberalization increased tertiary educational attainment, as well as sorting of students into different degree types depending on family background. Students whose parents were members of the Chinese Communist Party selected into relatively less prestigious vocational colleges with lower admissions standards. In contrast, politically unconnected individuals responded to the higher skill premium following the reforms by studying harder to obtain more demanding and sought-after university degrees.
Anti-Japanese Protests, Social Media Hate Speech and WWII TV Dramas in China
Conditionally Accepted at the Journal of the European Economic Association
Ethnic hatred often persists long after conflicts end. In this paper, I study the effect of entertainment media in reviving historical grievances. I document the importance of TV dramas about the Japanese occupation during WWII on modern Chinese TV, and show that they affect real-life behaviour and social media discourse. Exploiting high-frequency data and exogenous variation in viewership, I show that WWII TV drama exposure leads to more anti-Japanese demonstrations, as well as hate speech and nationalist sentiment on social media. This effect is driven by privately produced TV dramas, while overt government propaganda has little effect. Entertainment media can increase the salience of historical grievances and the perceived social desirability of expressing nationalist sentiment.
Cohorts, Competition and Construction: Economic Performance, Land Expropriation and Bureaucrat Promotion in China - with Paul Dutronc-Postel (IPP, PSE)
[Latest draft] [Replication package available upon request]
Accepted at the World Bank Economic Review
We study the effect of career incentives on bureaucrat performance by exploiting the ex-ante competitiveness of promotions. We combine administrative, remote sensing and survey data on all prefecture-level Chinese cities between 1996 and 2012 with detailed information on the career histories of city leaders. We find that officials with fewer rivals for promotion have a greater likelihood of advancement and face stronger promotion incentives. We show that the number of competitors is uncorrelated with characteristics of the bureaucrats and their placements. Strong career incentives lead to a growth strategy that relies on real estate investment and rural land expropriation, resulting in faster growth in construction and GDP, but lower investment in education, public transport and health.
From Registration to Representation: Mobilising Women Voters and Politicians in India - with Pamela Campa (SITE, SSE) and Jonathan Lehne (SITE, SSE)
[Abstract and slides available upon request]
Identity, Contact and Threat - with Ekaterina Zhuravskaya (EHESS/PSE)
[Abstract and slides available upon request]
Censorship and Repression on Russian Social Media - with Anastasiia Arbuzova (Kiehl Institute)
Online Platforms, News Media, and Democracy - with Marcel Garz (Jönköping University) and Ferenc Szucs (Stockholm University, PI)
Jan Wallanders and Tom Hedelius foundation and Tore Browaldhs foundation research programme grant for 2.5 million SEK (2026 - 2028)