File Download
Links for fulltext
(May Require Subscription)
- Publisher Website: 10.1257/jep.31.1.117
- Scopus: eid_2-s2.0-85013377293
- WOS: WOS:000393699100006
- Find via
Supplementary
- Citations:
- Appears in Collections:
Article: Why Does China Allow Freer Social Media? Protests Versus Surveillance And Propaganda
Title | Why Does China Allow Freer Social Media? Protests Versus Surveillance And Propaganda |
---|---|
Authors | |
Issue Date | 2017 |
Publisher | American Economic Association. The Journal's web site is located at http://www.aeaweb.org/jep/ |
Citation | Journal of Economic Perspectives, 2017, v. 31 n. 1, p. 117-140 How to Cite? |
Abstract | In this paper, we document basic facts regarding public debates about controversial political issues on Chinese social media. Our documentation is based on a dataset of 13.2 billion blog posts published on Sina Weibo--the most prominent Chinese microblogging platform--during the 2009-2013 period. Our primary finding is that a shockingly large number of posts on highly sensitive topics were published and circulated on social media. For instance, we find millions of posts discussing protests, and these posts are informative in predicting the occurrence of specific events. We find an even larger number of posts with explicit corruption allegations, and that these posts predict future corruption charges of specific individuals. Our findings challenge a popular view that an authoritarian regime would relentlessly censor or even ban social media. Instead, the interaction of an authoritarian government with social media seems more complex. |
Persistent Identifier | http://hdl.handle.net/10722/244426 |
ISSN | 2023 Impact Factor: 6.9 2023 SCImago Journal Rankings: 7.496 |
SSRN | |
ISI Accession Number ID |
DC Field | Value | Language |
---|---|---|
dc.contributor.author | Qin, B | - |
dc.contributor.author | Strömberg, D | - |
dc.contributor.author | Wu, Y | - |
dc.date.accessioned | 2017-09-18T01:52:14Z | - |
dc.date.available | 2017-09-18T01:52:14Z | - |
dc.date.issued | 2017 | - |
dc.identifier.citation | Journal of Economic Perspectives, 2017, v. 31 n. 1, p. 117-140 | - |
dc.identifier.issn | 0895-3309 | - |
dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/10722/244426 | - |
dc.description.abstract | In this paper, we document basic facts regarding public debates about controversial political issues on Chinese social media. Our documentation is based on a dataset of 13.2 billion blog posts published on Sina Weibo--the most prominent Chinese microblogging platform--during the 2009-2013 period. Our primary finding is that a shockingly large number of posts on highly sensitive topics were published and circulated on social media. For instance, we find millions of posts discussing protests, and these posts are informative in predicting the occurrence of specific events. We find an even larger number of posts with explicit corruption allegations, and that these posts predict future corruption charges of specific individuals. Our findings challenge a popular view that an authoritarian regime would relentlessly censor or even ban social media. Instead, the interaction of an authoritarian government with social media seems more complex. | - |
dc.language | eng | - |
dc.publisher | American Economic Association. The Journal's web site is located at http://www.aeaweb.org/jep/ | - |
dc.relation.ispartof | Journal of Economic Perspectives | - |
dc.rights | Copyright © 2017 American Economic Association. This article is available at https://doi.org/10.1257/jep.31.1.117 | - |
dc.title | Why Does China Allow Freer Social Media? Protests Versus Surveillance And Propaganda | - |
dc.type | Article | - |
dc.identifier.email | Qin, B: beiqin@hku.hk | - |
dc.identifier.authority | Qin, B=rp01792 | - |
dc.description.nature | published_or_final_version | - |
dc.identifier.doi | 10.1257/jep.31.1.117 | - |
dc.identifier.scopus | eid_2-s2.0-85013377293 | - |
dc.identifier.hkuros | 278569 | - |
dc.identifier.volume | 31 | - |
dc.identifier.issue | 1 | - |
dc.identifier.spage | 117 | - |
dc.identifier.epage | 140 | - |
dc.identifier.isi | WOS:000393699100006 | - |
dc.publisher.place | United States | - |
dc.identifier.ssrn | 2910223 | - |
dc.identifier.issnl | 0895-3309 | - |