In quot;Bowling Alone,quot; Putnam (1995) famously argued that the rise of television may be responsible for social … television (and radio), I exploit plausibly exogenous differences in over-the-air signal strength associated with the topography … spent watching television and listening to radio, is associated with substantially lower levels of participation in social …

We use heterogeneity in the timing of television's introduction to different local markets to identify the effect of … preschool television exposure on standardized test scores later in life. Our preferred point estimate indicates that an … additional year of preschool television exposure raises average test scores by about .02 standard deviations. We are able to …