Economics
Research insight
INVITED EDITOR
Editorial from
NOVAFRICA Knowledge Center
NOVAFRICA is a knowledge center created by the Nova School of Business and Economics of the Universidade Nova de Lisboa in 2011. Its mission is to produce expertise with an impact on business and economic development in Africa. A particular focus is on Portuguese-speaking Africa, i.e., Angola, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, and Sao Tome and Principe.
July 16, 2024
9. Industry, innovation and infrastructure

9. Industry, innovation and infrastructure

Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation
LEARN MORE

17. Partnerships for the goals

Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development
LEARN MORE

Facebook Causes Protests

Under the theme of Economic Development in Africa, the NOVAFRICA@Nova SBE seminar series hosts a variety of international speakers. This seminar invited Leopoldo Fergusson, Universidad de los Andes.

Internet and social media have been considered crucial determinants of recent political turmoil and protests. To estimate the causal impact of Facebook on collective action for a large set of countries, we use Facebook’s release in a given language as an exogenous source of variation in access to social media where those languages are spoken.

Using country, subnational, and individual-level data we show that Facebook had a significant and sizable positive impact on citizen protests. Complementary findings show that these results are not driven by reverse causality or correlated changes in protest reporting. Also, the response to Facebook access is particularly important in countries with pre-existing underlying conditions that facilitate using the technology (more internet access), grievances (economic downturns), few other opportunities to coordinate action against authorities (no freedom of assembly and repression of the opposition), and factors making the country more conflict-prone (natural resource abundance and denser urban populations). It is also more present in countries with either very strong or very weak accountability. Finally, we find that the effect is present for individuals with very different characteristics and we detect no evidence of displacement in other forms of political participation or news consumption.

This content was originally published in Novafrica.org

NOVAFRICA Knowledge Center
NOVAFRICA is a knowledge center created by the Nova School of Business and Economics of the Universidade Nova de Lisboa in 2011. Its mission is to produce expertise with an impact on business and economic development in Africa. A particular focus is on Portuguese-speaking Africa, i.e., Angola, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, and Sao Tome and Principe.
LEARN MORE
SHARE

Keep reading

How Do Firms Respond To Demand Shocks?

The study from Nova SBE Finance Knowledge Center examines the response of firms to domestic demand shocks based on the large and unanticipated shock to government spending in European periphery countries during the 2010-2011 sovereign debt crisis.

Charts of the Month - March '22

Gas Shortages, Oil Exports, LatAm VC Investments, YTD Sector Returns, GBTC Conversion, Impact vs ESG, and the Foo.

Corporate Taxation: Evasion, Incentives, and the Shadow Economy

In her PhD thesis, Risa Pavia examines two elements of firm behavior with respect to taxation: efforts to reduce tax liability, and responses to incentives in the tax code.

Collaboration between Nova SBE and companies creates value in the local municipality of Cascais

Economic 1st responders & the perspective of an Alumnus, who acted as a Mentor in representation of Deloitte, partner of this initiative

THE CHOICES OF

Nova SBE awarded at the 1st edition of the EFFAS Gasperini Awards

Professors Miguel Ferreira and José Tavares and Nova SBE PhD student Sharmin Sazedj were awarded the first edition of the EFFAS Gasperini Awards, where they represented Nova SBE

Subscribe our weekly newsletter

By subscribing to the Nova SBE Role to Play newsletter, you can stay up-to-date on the latest articles posted on the website.
Thank you! Your submission has been received!
Oops! Something went wrong while submitting the form.

We all have a role to play

We are on a mission to be a community dedicated to the development of talent and knowledge that impacts the world.

With just ten years to go, an ambitious global effort is underway to deliver the 2030 promise. We want to take a stand and we are calling on our community to showcase how they are contributing to the 17 Sustainable Development Goals, whilst influencing more and more people to unravel their role to play.

Here, you will find four different ways your ideas can flourish, dialogue can be enhanced, and action can take place. You can choose one or all four, and Nova SBE will be there to support you all the way and guarantee tangible change.

We all have a role to play, and this is your way in.