Estimados Académicos y Académicas FEN,

Les extendemos la invitación al seminario que organiza el Departamento de Economía, en el que se presentará el trabajo titulado "McCarthyism, Media, and Political Repression: Evidence from Hollywood".

Expone: Tianyi Wang, Profesor Asistente, Departamento de Economía, Universidad de Toronto.

Coautores: Hui Ren Tan (NUS).

Abstract: While demagogues have existed throughout the history of democracy, empirical evidence on their impacts remains limited. This paper studies one of the most far-reaching episodes of demagoguery in American history. During the Red Scare of the late 1940s and 1950s, anti-communist hysteria led by Senator Joseph McCarthy and others swept across America. A primary target was Hollywood, where scores of professionals were accused and investigated for alleged communist affiliations or sympathies. We examine the determinants and impacts of the anti-communist witch hunt in Hollywood. We show that prominent individuals and those holding dissenting views were more likely to be targeted. Using a matched difference-in-differences approach, we find that the accused actors and screenwriters experienced a large and significant decline in creative output that lasted for about a decade. The quality of the output also suffered. Furthermore, we document a chilling effect on the types of films being made: screenwriters who had previously worked with a future-accused co-worker pursued fewer progressive subjects. Finally, consistent with evidence that Hollywood films became politically more conservative during this era, counties with greater movie theater exposure saw an increase in Republican support in presidential elections following the start of the Hollywood investigations. 

El formato será presencial y el seminario se desarrollará en la Sala P-204.

Saludos cordiales,

Dirección de Investigación