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A new publication “The political economy of collective memories: Evidence from Russian politics”

How does the chaotic experience of the 1990s affect Russian politics today? Michael Rochlitz and Alessandro Belmonte (IMT School for Advanced Studies, Lucca) try to answer this question in their new article “The political economy of collective memories: Evidence from Russian politics” published in the Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization.

They use data from national-level TV and radio as well as a text analysis of 3832 regional and local newspapers to show how the Kremlin exercises its control over the media to strategically reactivate negative collective memories from the 1990s before important elections and create political support for the status quo.