No.
Britain and Canada are outliers in their regression. Think of
Malaysia, or China, if you want a typical country in which the
government has a large media share.
The government media-inferior health and the government
media-inferior education correlations made me think of a possible
tie-in with Sen's arguments about famines, publicity, and democracy...
Brad DeLong
>British and Canadian broadcasting is bad for you. One of the
>authors has been under discussion here recently.
>
>NBER WORKING PAPER
>Who Owns the Media? Simeon Djankov, Caralee McLiesh, Tatiana
>Nenova, Andrei Shleifer NBER Working Paper No. W8288
>May 2001
>Abstract: We examine the patterns of media ownership in 97
>countries around the world. We find that almost universally the
>largest media firms are owned by the government or by private
>families. Government ownership is more pervasive in broadcasting
>than in the printed media. Government ownership of the media is
>generally associated with less press freedom, fewer political and
>economic rights, and, most conspicuously, inferior social
>outcomes in the areas of education and health. It does not appear
>that adverse consequences of government ownership of the media
>are restricted solely to the instances of government monopoly.
>
>--
>Michael Perelman
>Economics Department
>California State University
>Chico, CA 95929
>
>Tel. 530-898-5321
>E-Mail [EMAIL PROTECTED]
