>We all agree that freedom of the press is very important.
And now a bunch of people have gone out and actually done some work:
they have compiled statistics on the extent of government control of
the media, and actually found that when you look across countries you
can begin to see the imprint of a free press in better socioeconomic
outcomes. This would seem to me to be something that the friends of
liberty would welcome: real statistical evidence that freedom of the
press may well make a difference for real people's--not just
intellectuals'--lives.
So why the casual trashing of a working paper I don't think you've read?
Why the eagerness to align yourself with state ownership of the
media--thus taking sides with Metternich and President Nyazov of
Turkmenistan, "owner and founder" of *all* the newspapers in the
country, and against my ex-roommate Andrei and the editor of the
_Neue Rheinische Zeitung_?
Brad DeLong
