Why Do Partisan Media Polarize Viewers?

The recent increase in partisan media has generated interest in whether such outlets polarize viewers. I draw on theories of motivated reasoning to explain why partisan media polarize viewers, why these programs affect some viewers much more strongly than others, and how long these effects endure. Using a series of original experiments, I find strong support for my theoretical expectations, including the argument that these effects can still be detected several days postexposure. My results demonstrate that partisan media polarize the electorate by taking relatively extreme citizens and making them even more extreme. Though only a narrow segment of the public watches partisan media programs, partisan media's effects extend much more broadly throughout the political arena.     

Outsourcing in US cities, ambulances and elderly voters

This paper develops a public choice model of city service provision, and uses empirical analysis to pin down some of the model’s key assumptions. Many of the largest cities in the United States outsource emergency medical services, and analysis of data from the 200 largest US cities finds that a number of variables are significant determinants of emergency ambulance outsourcing, including the fraction of a city’s voters over the age of 65. This finding provides evidence that elderly voters are important in policy determination, and suggests a particular shape for the model’s contracting cost curve.     

Radicalization of Homegrown Sunni Militants in the United States: Comparing Converts and Non-Converts

Are the mechanisms and processes that lead to radicalization different for Muslim converts and non-converts in the United States? While many scholars attempt to explain why people violently radicalize, the theories are diverse and most treat converts and non-converts the same. This study answers this question by categorizing the many radicalization theories into three levels of analysis so that cases of radicalization can be analyzed across and within disciplines. Out of 83 cases studies, individual-level factors are more prevalent among converts than non-converts. Group-level processes similarly affect both groups. Mass-level mechanisms are not significant factors in radicalization.     

The Iraq Coalition of the Willing and (Politically) Able: Party Systems,the Press,and Public Influence on Foreign Policy

Media outlets in multiparty electoral systems tend to report on a wider range of policy issues than media in two‐party systems. They thus make more competing policy frames available to citizens. This suggests that a “free press” is insufficient to hold governments accountable. Rather, we should observe more challenges to the governments’ preferred frames and more politically aware citizens in multiparty democracies. Such citizens should thus be better equipped to hold their leaders accountable, relative to their counterparts in two‐party democracies. I propose a mechanism through which democratic publics can sometimes constrain their leaders in foreign policy. I test hypotheses derived from my theory with cross‐national data on the content of news coverage of Iraq, on public support for the war, and on decisions to contribute troops to the Iraq “Coalition of the Willing.” I find that citizens in countries with larger numbers of parties confronted more critical and diverse coverage of Iraq, while those with more widespread access to mass media were more likely to oppose the war and their nations likely to contribute fewer troops to the Coalition.