Assist. Prof. Milena Djourelova, Ph.D.

The Impact of Online Competition on Local Newspapers

In this CESifo Working Paper (no. 9090), Milena Djourelova, joint with Ruben Durante and Gregory J. Martin, investigated how competition from online platforms affects the organization, performance, and editorial choices of newspapers. They also examined the implications of these changes for the information voters are exposed to and for political accountability. They determined that following the entry of the online platform Craigslist, local papers experienced a significant decline in the number of newsroom and management staff. Cuts in editorial staff disproportionately affected reporters covering politics. These organizational changes led to a reduction in news coverage of politics and political corruption, and resulted in a decline in newspaper readership which was not compensated by increased news consumption on other media. Finally, they found some evidence that reduced news coverage of politics was associated with lower voter turnout, and more party-line voting for both citizens and politicians.
Ms. Djourelova’s fields of interest are Applied Economics and Political Economy. In the CESifo Research Network she participates in the Behavioral Economics area. She is currently finalizing a paper on media slant and public views on immigration policy.
Milena Djourelova is an Assistant Professor of Economics at Cornell University, having previously held the position of Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Chicago. She holds a PhD in Economics from the Universtat Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona, an MSc in Economics from the University of Bonn as well as a BSc in Economics with a Mathematics minor from the University of Mannheim. Ms. Djourelova serves as reviewer for numerous academic journals. She is also a CESifo Research Network Affiliate.