Congrats!
But quite large policy effects somewhere else (Finland): www.cambridge.org/core/journal.... We probably should chat with Benny et al. on why the difference.
The observed results suggest that the transparency of policymaking offered by broadcasting question hours does not automatically lead to an increase in ideological (left-right) polarization as sometimes expected in public discussion and previous literature. (8/8)
However, we do observe that the likelihood of MPs' presence increases in televised sessions. TV broadcasting may therefore increase MPs' effort. (7/8)
We also do not observe effects on differences between individual parties, within-party differences, topics addressed, speech length, or the number of interruptions. (6/8)
We observe a positive effect on the speech differences between the government and the opposition, suggesting that broadcasting question hours can exacerbate language use. However, we do not observe that the broadcasts of question hours would affect left-right polarization. (5/8)
Polarization is estimated separately for the treated question hours and for the other sessions. Thus, we can estimate the effects of broadcasting on speech polarization by comparing levels in these different groups before and after the start of broadcasting. (4/8)
We measure speech differences (speech polarization) between different groups using a method developed by Gentzkow, Shapiro & Taddy (2019), that is, how easy it is to identify speaker type by their speech alone. (3/8)