IFS-STICERD Public Economics Seminar
Language Customization and the Market for News
Christopher Roth (University of Cologne)
Wednesday 05 March 2025 12:30 - 13:45
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Those unable to join the seminars in-person are welcome to participate via zoom if the event is hybrid.
About this event
In large-scale experiments, we study people's news consumption on a news app, TailorMade Times, that enables users to customize news articles in terms of their entertainment, negativity, political perspective, and complexity. As users set their preferences, the app dynamically generates and presents AI-created news content tailored in real time, while holding constant the underlying facts from a credible source. According to our framework, the app decreases search and matching frictions for consumers. Our experiments shed light on the demand for and the consequences of language customization. We document a series of key findings: First, we show that people's likelihood of downloading and using a news app significantly increases when it offers language customization. Second, using rich click data, we characterize how people customize their news in practice. Third, we study the causal effect of language customization on knowledge acquisition, issue polarization and affective polarization.
This seminar series is jointly organized by the IFS and STICERD.
IFS-STICERD Public Economics seminars are held on Wednesdays in term time at 12.30-13.45 IN PERSON at the IFS.
Seminar organisers: Monica Costa Dias (IFS), Xavier Jaravel (LSE), Camille Landais (LSE), Peter Levell (IFS), Attila Lindner (UCL), Joana Naritomi (LSE), Johannes Spinnewijn (LSE), and Kate Smith (LSE).
For further information please contact Peter Levell: peter_l@ifs.org.uk .
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