During Michaelmas Term, OxTalks will be moving to a new platform (full details are available on the Staff Gateway).
For now, continue using the current page and event submission process (freeze period dates to be advised).
If you have any questions, please contact halo@digital.ox.ac.uk
We study the causal effect of social media on ethnic hate crimes and xenophobic attitudes in Russia and the mechanisms underlying this effect, using quasi-exogenous variation in social media
penetration across cities. Higher penetration of social media led to more hate crimes in cities with
a high pre-existing level of nationalist sentiment. Consistent with a mechanism of coordination
of crimes, the effects are stronger for crimes with multiple perpetrators. Using a national survey
experiment, we also find evidence of a mechanism of persuasion: social media led individuals
(especially young, male, and less-educated ones) to hold more xenophobic attitudes.
Written with Leonardo Bursztyn (Chicago), Georgy Egorov (Northwestern), and Ruben Enikolopov( NES, UPF, IPEF, BGSE)
