ABSTRACT

This article examines the effects of press freedom (as defined by the US-based Freedom House) on economic growth for 97 countries over four decades (1972–2014). Acknowledging that the idea of “press freedom” carries with it a weight of ethnocentric assumptions, our empirical analysis finds that US understandings of deterioration in press freedom are detrimental to a nation’s economy. Further, we find that countries do not fully recover economically if their press freedoms are compromised, even if the rights of media are restored. This is consistent with emerging literature highlighting the suppressive long-term effects censorship may exert on citizen desire for a free press. We find that the relationship between press freedom and economic performance varies, particularly depending upon the education level of a nation’s workforce, which is consistent with notions that education can be linked to a demand for a free press.

摘要

本文研究了新闻自由（由美国自由之家定义）在四个十年（1972年至2014年）中对97个国家的经济增长的影响。我们的经验分析认识到“新闻自由”的思想带有以民族为中心的假设，因此发现美国对新闻自由恶化的理解不利于一个国家的经济。此外，我们发现，即使新闻自由得到恢复，各国的新闻自由受到损害，也无法在经济上全面恢复。这与新兴文学相吻合，后者强调审查制度可能会对公民对新闻自由的渴望产生抑制性的长期影响。我们发现新闻自由与经济表现之间的关系各不相同，尤其是取决于一个国家劳动力的教育程度，