Book Bans in American Libraries: Impact of Politics on Inclusive Content Consumption
Job Market Paper
with Uttara M. Ananthakrishnan, Sabari Rajan Karmegam, Ananya Sen, Michael D. Smith
Marketing Science
Book Bans in American Libraries: Impact of Politics on Inclusive Content Consumption
Job Market Paper
with Uttara M. Ananthakrishnan, Sabari Rajan Karmegam, Ananya Sen, Michael D. Smith
Marketing Science
Banning of books has become increasingly prevalent and politically polarizing in the United States. While the primary goal of these bans is to restrict access to books, conversations about the bans have garnered attention on a wider scale. This increased attention to bans can either have a chilling effect or can influence consumers to read the banned books. In this study, we use a novel, large-scale dataset of US library book circulations and evaluate the impact of book bans on the consumption of banned books. Using a staggered difference-in-differences design, we find that the circulations of banned books increased by 12% on average compared to comparable non-banned titles after the ban. We also find that banning a book in a state leads to increased circulation in states without bans. We show that the increase in consumption is driven by books from lesser-known authors suggesting that new and unknown authors stand to gain from the increasing consumer support. Additionally, our results demonstrate that books with higher visibility on social media following the ban see an increase in consumption, suggesting a link between social media and political consumerism. Using patron-level data from the Seattle Public Library that includes the borrower’s age, we provide suggestive evidence that the increase in readership in the aggregate data is driven, in part, due to children reading a book more once it is banned. Using data on campaign emails sent to potential donors subscribed to politicians’ mailing lists, we show a significant increase in mentions of book ban related topics in fundraising emails sent by Republican candidates. We also provide suggestive evidence on the impact of the rhetoric around these events on donations received by politicians.
The Chilling Effect of Dobbs: A Study of Mobile Health Apps Usage
with Uttara M. Ananthakrishnan, Catherine Tucker
Second Round Review at Information Systems Research
When the United States Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in the landmark case in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, it brought significant changes to the landscape of reproductive rights and digital privacy. This study investigates how heightened concerns over government surveillance and data privacy, prompted by this ruling, affect the usage of digital health tracking tools among women. This paper uses a panel of mobile phone usage data to analyze user behavior before and after the Dobbs ruling leaked, focusing on app usage patterns. Our findings reveal a significant and chilling effect on the usage of mobile health apps. Specifically, we observe a 9.6% decrease in the weekly number of app usage sessions and a 31% reduction in average time spent on mobile health apps immediately after the Dobbs verdict leak. We observe that this reduction is even higher for FemTech apps — an 18.6% decline in the number of sessions and a 66.7% reduction in weekly time spent per week. We find that these effects are moderated by demographic factors like race, age, and income as well as prior exposure to social media and news. Finally, we also observe spillover effects of
the decision, in terms of increased adoption of privacy-preserving browsers following the leak.
Now You See Me: How Streaming Platforms Enable Diversity in Movies
with Uttara M. Ananthakrishnan, Beibei Li, Michael D. Smith
Preparing to submit to Management Science
Our research analyzes the degree to which the unique economic characteristics of streaming platforms have allowed for the distribution of movies — in our case movies with diverse casts — that wouldn’t have been economically feasible in traditional time- and space-bound physical channels. To do this we combine several datasets documenting cast diversity in movies, the consumption of movies across theatrical and streaming platforms, and detailed information on the promotion of movies within streaming platforms.
Our results show that racial diversity is 15.3% higher for movies made by streaming platforms compared to movies made for theatrical channels. We also show that this difference is driven by market factors in physical channels, notably limited shelf-life and accessibility constraints — factors which can be relaxed in streaming platforms. Finally, using causal mechanisms, we show that streaming platforms use the strong positive preference externalities conferred by powerful algorithms to promote the discovery and consumption of diverse movies.
Resilience of Gig Economy during Economic Downturn: Insights from Location Big Data
with Natasha Zhang Foutz, Beibei Li
Preparing to submit to Management Science
Economic downturns, while accompanied by unemployment crises, also engender new opportunities in the gig economy (e.g. grocery delivery in 2020) and adaptions among gig workers. This research investigates the magnitude and mechanisms of such resilience of the gig economy during an economic downturn. Leveraging the newly available mobile location data, we present the first population-scale and individual-level evidence of resilience of the core gig sectors. Analyses of one billion individual-level location records reveal that these gig sectors (1) suffer fewer job losses than the traditional labor market, (2) absorb non-gig unemployment, (3) curb more job losses in Black neighborhoods, and (4) see workers adapt work behaviors. The resilience of the gig economy and its contribution to vulnerable populations highlight the importance of public policy- and business policy-making to support the gig economy and protect gig workers.
Spatial Mobility and Mental Health during COVID-19: Evidence from Linked Individual-Level GPS Data and Health Care Records
with Seth Chizeck, Edward Mulvey, Sagar Baviskar, Beibei Li, Lee Branstetter
Economic downturns, while accompanied by unemployment crises, also engender new opportunities in the gig economy (e.g. grocery delivery in 2020) and adaptions among gig workers. This research investigates the magnitude and mechanisms of such resilience of the gig economy during an economic downturn. Leveraging the newly available mobile location data, we present the first population-scale and individual-level evidence of resilience of the core gig sectors. Analyses of one billion individual-level location records reveal that these gig sectors (1) suffer fewer job losses than the traditional labor market, (2) absorb non-gig unemployment, (3) curb more job losses in Black neighborhoods, and (4) see workers adapt work behaviors. The resilience of the gig economy and its contribution to vulnerable populations highlight the importance of public policy- and business policy-making to support the gig economy and protect gig workers.