comments on della vigna and kennedy
DESCRIPTION
Comments on Della Vigna and Kennedy. Joel Waldfogel Moscow October 28, 2011. Neat paper!. Oodles of evidence trained on question: “does joint ownership of media outlet and movie studio cause better reviews?” “oodles” means N → ∞ Compelling controls, believable estimate Comments - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
![Page 1: Comments on Della Vigna and Kennedy](https://reader035.vdocuments.site/reader035/viewer/2022062517/56813e5e550346895da86464/html5/thumbnails/1.jpg)
Comments on Della Vigna and Kennedy
Joel WaldfogelMoscow
October 28, 2011
![Page 2: Comments on Della Vigna and Kennedy](https://reader035.vdocuments.site/reader035/viewer/2022062517/56813e5e550346895da86464/html5/thumbnails/2.jpg)
Neat paper!
• Oodles of evidence trained on question: “does joint ownership of media outlet and movie studio cause better reviews?”– “oodles” means N → ∞
• Compelling controls, believable estimate• Comments– Earnest praise– Finding’s meaning– Effect of “concentration”
![Page 3: Comments on Della Vigna and Kennedy](https://reader035.vdocuments.site/reader035/viewer/2022062517/56813e5e550346895da86464/html5/thumbnails/3.jpg)
• Elements of a good story…
![Page 4: Comments on Della Vigna and Kennedy](https://reader035.vdocuments.site/reader035/viewer/2022062517/56813e5e550346895da86464/html5/thumbnails/4.jpg)
villains
![Page 5: Comments on Della Vigna and Kennedy](https://reader035.vdocuments.site/reader035/viewer/2022062517/56813e5e550346895da86464/html5/thumbnails/5.jpg)
heroes
• Bias-detecting sleuths
![Page 6: Comments on Della Vigna and Kennedy](https://reader035.vdocuments.site/reader035/viewer/2022062517/56813e5e550346895da86464/html5/thumbnails/6.jpg)
Characters you’re not sure about until the end
![Page 7: Comments on Della Vigna and Kennedy](https://reader035.vdocuments.site/reader035/viewer/2022062517/56813e5e550346895da86464/html5/thumbnails/7.jpg)
Make a wish
• Suppose you wanted to know whether films receive better reviews at studio-owned media outlets
• Wish list: it would be nice to have a context with – Change in ownership, with reviews before and after– Data on multiple outlets’ reviews of same movies– Half a million observations
• Amazingly, this is what Stefano and Alex have!
![Page 8: Comments on Della Vigna and Kennedy](https://reader035.vdocuments.site/reader035/viewer/2022062517/56813e5e550346895da86464/html5/thumbnails/8.jpg)
Drum roll, please
• We have countenanced the devil• …and what does he look like?
![Page 9: Comments on Della Vigna and Kennedy](https://reader035.vdocuments.site/reader035/viewer/2022062517/56813e5e550346895da86464/html5/thumbnails/9.jpg)
Regular vs diabolical reviews
![Page 10: Comments on Della Vigna and Kennedy](https://reader035.vdocuments.site/reader035/viewer/2022062517/56813e5e550346895da86464/html5/thumbnails/10.jpg)
Another perspective
Answer: 3 points at Fox-owned, 0 at Time Warner, on a mean review of 60
![Page 11: Comments on Della Vigna and Kennedy](https://reader035.vdocuments.site/reader035/viewer/2022062517/56813e5e550346895da86464/html5/thumbnails/11.jpg)
Economic vs statistical significance
• N → ∞– SD of mean: σ/√N– Many things will become statistically significant – Will see *** in tables, but size matters
• Aside– Suppose N had been merely 100,000– Could have convinced me of no effect– Effect is hard to detect
![Page 12: Comments on Della Vigna and Kennedy](https://reader035.vdocuments.site/reader035/viewer/2022062517/56813e5e550346895da86464/html5/thumbnails/12.jpg)
Implications of results
• Does ownership affect reviews?– A series of case studies– Yes at Fox, no at Time Warner– Yes for some reviewers, no for others
• Would like an explanation of why sometimes yes
![Page 13: Comments on Della Vigna and Kennedy](https://reader035.vdocuments.site/reader035/viewer/2022062517/56813e5e550346895da86464/html5/thumbnails/13.jpg)
What is the policy takeaway?
• Don’t let Murdoch own stuff?
• or
• “on balance, no evidence that it matters much”
![Page 14: Comments on Della Vigna and Kennedy](https://reader035.vdocuments.site/reader035/viewer/2022062517/56813e5e550346895da86464/html5/thumbnails/14.jpg)
Paper Motivation
• “Does Media Concentration Lead to Biased Coverage?”
• What do you think when you hear “media concentration”?
![Page 15: Comments on Della Vigna and Kennedy](https://reader035.vdocuments.site/reader035/viewer/2022062517/56813e5e550346895da86464/html5/thumbnails/15.jpg)
Possible effects of “concentration”
• Product positioning incentives associated with joint ownership– Internalization of business stealing externalities– This paper’s not about that
![Page 16: Comments on Della Vigna and Kennedy](https://reader035.vdocuments.site/reader035/viewer/2022062517/56813e5e550346895da86464/html5/thumbnails/16.jpg)
Competition and product quality?
• Does competition keep reviewers honest vs undermining ability to finance high fixed costs
• Would require variation in amount of competition• Not what this paper wants to be about
![Page 17: Comments on Della Vigna and Kennedy](https://reader035.vdocuments.site/reader035/viewer/2022062517/56813e5e550346895da86464/html5/thumbnails/17.jpg)
Product positioning and owner preferences
• Related to– Podolny and Scott-Morton • what movitates wine makers – “Love or Money?”
– Race and ownership • FCC had traditionally tried to promote minority
ownership
• Maybe change title– “concentration” evokes the wrong imagery here
![Page 18: Comments on Della Vigna and Kennedy](https://reader035.vdocuments.site/reader035/viewer/2022062517/56813e5e550346895da86464/html5/thumbnails/18.jpg)
Another point of contact
• This is a merger retrospective– Cf. Ashenfelter, Hosken, etc.
• Usually, look at price changes following merger– Selected sample of allowable mergers– Here, merger likely exogenous
• Post-merger product repositioning
![Page 19: Comments on Della Vigna and Kennedy](https://reader035.vdocuments.site/reader035/viewer/2022062517/56813e5e550346895da86464/html5/thumbnails/19.jpg)
Thanks
• Neat paper!• Impressive exercise• Convincing estimates