Download or read book Media as a Mechanism of Institutional Change and Reinforcement written by Christopher J. Coyne and published by . This book was released on 2009 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: We argue that mass media is a mechanism of institutional evolution and identify three important effects media has on institutions. The gradual effect involves media contributing to marginal changes in existing institutions. The punctuation effect involves media catalyzing rapid institutional overhaul. The reinforcement effect involves media contributing to the durability and sustainability of punctuated institutional equilibria. Our analysis identifies a paradoxical relationship between mass media and institutions wherein media both changes and reinforces existing institutions. This finding resolves a tension in the institutional literature that defines institutions by their durability but recognizes we observe (sometimes rapid and radical) institutional change. Case studies from the collapse of communism in Poland and Russia illustrate our argument.