This paper focuses on fertility choices in Brazil, a country where soap operas (novelas) portray families that are much smaller than in reality, to study the effects of television on individual behavior. Using Census data for the period 1970-1991, the paper finds that women living in areas...

This paper focuses on fertility choices in Brazil, a country where soap operas (novelas) portray families that are much smaller than in reality, to study the effects of television on individual behavior. Using Census data for the period 1970-1991, the paper finds that women living in areas...

What are the effects of television, and of role models portrayed in TV programs, on individual behavior? We focus on fertility choices in Brazil, a country where soap operas (novelas) portray families that are much smaller than in reality. We exploit differences in the timing of entry into...

Este trabajo se concentra en las decisiones relacionadas con la fertilidad en Brasil, un país donde las novelas usualmente muestran familias mucho más reducidas que en la realidad, para analizar la influencia de la televisión en el comportamiento del individuo. Usando datos del censo...

This paper focuses on fertility choices in Brazil, a country where soap operas (novelas) portray families that are much smaller than in reality, to study the effects of television on individual behavior. Using Census data for the period 1970-1991, the paper finds that women living in areas...

We estimate the effect of television on fertility in Brazil, where soap operas portray small families. We exploit differences in the timing of entry into different markets of Globo, the main novela producer. Women living in areas covered by Globo have significantly lower fertility. The effect is...

This paper studies the link between television and divorce in Brazil by exploiting variation in the timing of availability of the signal of Rede Globothe network that had a virtual monopoly on telenovelas in the countryacross municipal areas. Using three rounds of Census data (1970, 1980 and...

This paper studies the link between television and divorce in Brazil by exploiting variation in the timing of availability of the signal of Rede Globo—the network that had a virtual monopoly on telenovelas in the country—across municipal areas. Using three rounds of Census data (1970, 1980...

En este trabajo se analiza el vínculo entre la televisión y el divorcio en Brasil mediante el estudio de la variación en la distribución temporal de la disponibilidad de la señal de Rede Globo —la red televisiva que tenía prácticamente el monopolio de las telenovelas en el país— en...

In this paper we study the link between television and divorce in Brazil. We exploit variation in the timing of availability of the signal of Rede Globo-the network that had a virtual monopoly on telenovelas in the country-across municipal areas. Using three rounds of census data (1970, 1980,...