TY - JOUR
T1 - The welfare effects of social media†
AU - Allcott, Hunt
AU - Braghieri, Luca
AU - Eichmeyer, Sarah
AU - Gentzkow, Matthew
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 American Economic Association. All rights reserved.
PY - 2020/3
Y1 - 2020/3
N2 - The rise of social media has provoked both optimism about potential societal benefits and concern about harms such as addiction, depression, and political polarization. In a randomized experiment, we find that deactivating Facebook for the four weeks before the 2018 US midterm election (i) reduced online activity, while increasing offline activities such as watching TV alone and socializing with family and friends; (ii) reduced both factual news knowledge and political polarization; (iii) increased subjective well-being; and (iv) caused a large persistent reduction in post-experiment Facebook use. Deactivation reduced post-experiment valuations of Facebook, suggesting that traditional metrics may overstate consumer surplus.
AB - The rise of social media has provoked both optimism about potential societal benefits and concern about harms such as addiction, depression, and political polarization. In a randomized experiment, we find that deactivating Facebook for the four weeks before the 2018 US midterm election (i) reduced online activity, while increasing offline activities such as watching TV alone and socializing with family and friends; (ii) reduced both factual news knowledge and political polarization; (iii) increased subjective well-being; and (iv) caused a large persistent reduction in post-experiment Facebook use. Deactivation reduced post-experiment valuations of Facebook, suggesting that traditional metrics may overstate consumer surplus.
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U2 - 10.1257/aer.20190658
DO - 10.1257/aer.20190658
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85083421439
SN - 0002-8282
VL - 110
SP - 629
EP - 676
JO - American Economic Review
JF - American Economic Review
IS - 3
ER -