Persuasion: Empirical Evidence

By Stefano DellaVigna, Matthew Gentzkow. 2010

592 citations recorded by the source corpus.

We provide a selective survey of empirical evidence on the effects as well as the drivers of persuasive communication. We consider persuasion directed at consumers, voters, donors, and investors. We organize our review around four questions. First, to what extent does persuasion affect the behavior of each of these groups? Second, what models best capture the response to persuasive communication? In particular, we distinguish information-based models from preference-based models. Third, what are persuaders' incentives and what limits their ability to distort communications? Finally, what evidence exists on the equilibrium outcomes of persuasion in economics and politics?

Subfields: Management Science and Operations Research, Safety Research, Sociology and Political Science

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/de177f0cee8b323a6350c044fe2fcb501f413a1e

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In Management Science and Operations Research

In Safety Research

In Sociology and Political Science

Citations in the corpus

TESTING ENFORCEMENT STRATEGIES IN THE FIELD: THREAT, MORAL APPEAL AND SOCIAL INFORMATION (2013, background): “%] of all evaders changed their behavior in response to the mailings.14 Hence, we cannot obtain point estimates for the overall persuasion rate (see DellaVigna and Gentzkow 2010).”
Do Online Advertisements Increase Political Candidates’ Name Recognition or Favorability? Evidence from Randomized Field Experiments (2014, background): “Our results also leveraged the unique potential of online advertisements to contribute to longstanding theoretical questions about the degree to which individuals’ perceptions, beliefs, and evaluations can be influenced by impersonal mass appeals (e.g., Hartmann 1936; DellaVigna and Gentzkow 2009).”
Does Diversity Matter for Health? Experimental Evidence from Oakland (2018, unknown): “[42] DellaVigna, Stefano, and Matthew Gentzkow.”
The Minimal Persuasive Effects of Campaign Contact in General Elections: Evidence from 49 Field Experiments (2017, background): “…scholars believe “campaigns fundamentally shape voters’ decisions” (Druckman 2004b, 577).1 If one consensus has been reached, it is that there is a dearth of studies in existing literature that credibly identifies causal effects (Brox and Shaw 2009; DellaVigna and Gentzkow 2010; Jacobson 2015).”
Reshaping Adolescents' Gender Attitudes: Evidence from a School-Based Experiment in India (2018, background): “We also add to the literature on persuasion, which is communication intended to change preferences or beliefs (DellaVigna and Gentzkow, 2010).”
Meet the Press: How Voters and Politicians Respond to Newspaper Entry and Exit (2014, background): “…Hence, the 0.46 percent of voters who vote after the expansion in the supply of local news corresponds to a persuasion rate of (0.46/0.0253) = 18.2 percent.37 The size of this effect is close to the highest value found by the literature on voters’ persuasion (DellaVigna and Gentzkow, 2010).”
Economic and Social Impacts of the Media (2015, unknown): “The direct effect could capture for example an imitation effect of the behavior in the media, say because of persuasion (DellaVigna and Gentzkow, 2010).”
Is newspaper coverage of economic events politically biased? (2014, unknown): “13 Another paper by DellaVigna and Gentzkow (2010)) shows that Republicans gained 0.”
Political Advertising and Election Results (2018, background): “In addition, we contribute to rapidly growing literatures on the political economy of mass media and persuasion (see Prat and Strömberg 2013 and DellaVigna and Gentzkow 2010 for reviews). DellaVigna and Kaplan (2007) demonstrate that the addition of Fox News to local cable networks increased Republi”
Radio and the Rise of the Nazis in Prewar Germany (2015, unknown): “Theoretically, listener’s prior beliefs about the content of the message should matter for the effectiveness of propaganda (DellaVigna and Gentzkow 2010).”
Honesty on the Streets. A Field Study on Newspaper Purchasing (2013, background): “However, the message may also alter behavior through its effect on beliefs (see DellaVigna and Gentzkow 2010).”
The Persuasive Effect of Fox News: Non-Compliance with Social Distancing During the Covid-19 Pandemic (2020, unknown): “8%, comparable to other persuasion rates typically found in the media persuasion literature (DellaVigna and Gentzkow, 2010).”
How Do Voters Respond to Information? Evidence from a Randomized Campaign (2013, unknown): “Furthermore, we randomly split the first three groups into two subgroups: in the first, the treatment was administered by both direct mail and phone calls (12 precincts); in the second, by direct mail only (12 precincts).(18) The candidate did not know the outcome of the randomization, as we were in”