The Impact of Free Media on Regime Change: Evidence from Russia Javier Garcia-Arenas∗ January 17, 2016 Abstract Can free media become a powerful lever to make regime change possible? Are Western countries successful in exporting their values to other countries and triggering regime change abroad? I study these questions in the context of Russia in the early 90s when the Soviet Union was crumbling. In particular, I analyze the impact of Radio Liberty on the 1991 Russian presidential elections, which were the first democratic elec- tions in the country. In order to study the effects of this American radio broadcasting from outside Russia, I use a novel empirical strategy exploiting ionospheric variation, which affects shortwave propagation over long distances, measured by NASA with the aim of obtaining a measure of radio availability in each Russian electoral district. The results show a significant effect of these broadcasts in favor of Yeltsin and a negative significant effect on communist support. Such results are robust and bolstered by a series of placebo exercises, and survey evidence. Thus, this paper documents that free media can play an important role in political processes of regime change. Keywords: Regime change, free media, communism, ionosphere. ∗Department of Economics, MIT. Email:
[email protected]. I am hugely indebted to Daron Acemoglu, Ben Olken, and Esther Duflo for splendid and inspiring advice, guidance, and encouragement through all the stages of this project. Many thanks also to Thomas Fujiwara for great comments and support. Cory Smith provided invaluable help on the coding. Thanks also to Anatol Shmelev, Carol Leadenham, Lisa Miller, and all the workers of the Hoover Archives for their support and hospitality.