3G internet and confidence in government Sergei Guriev, Nikita Melnikov and Ekaterina Zhuravskaya Abstract How does the internet affect government approval? Using surveys of 840,537 individuals from 2,232 subnational regions in 116 countries in 2008-2017 from the Gallup World Poll and the global expansion of 3G networks, we show that an increase in internet access, on average, reduces government approval and increases the perception of corruption in government. This effect is present only when internet is not censored and is stronger when traditional media is. Actual incidence of corruption translates into higher corruption perception only in places covered by 3G. In Europe, the expansion of mobile internet increased vote shares of anti-establishment populist parties. Keywords: Government approval, 3G, Mobile, Internet, Corruption, Populism Contact details: Sergei Guriev, SciencesPo, 28 Rue des Saints-Pères, 75007, Paris, France. Phone: +33 (0)1 45 49 54 15; email:
[email protected] Sergei Guriev is a Professor of Economics at SciencesPo and a Research Fellow at the Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR). Nikita Melnikov is a Ph.D. candidate at the Department of Economics at Princeton University. Ekaterina Zhuravskaya is a Professor of Economics at the Paris School of Economics and EHESS and a Research Fellow at the Centre for Economic Policy Research. We thank Thomas Fujiwara, Irena Grosfeld, Ilyana Kuziemko, Marco Manacorda, Chris Papageorgiou, Maria Micaela Sviatschi, the participants of seminars in Princeton University, Paris School of Economics, SciencesPo and Annual Workshop of CEPR RPN on Populism for helpful comments. We also thank Antonela Miho for the excellent research assistance.