Television and Divorce: Evidence from BrazilianNovelas

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, and 1991) and controlling for area fixed effects and for time-varying characteristics, we find that the share of women who are separated or divorced increases significantly after the Globo signal becomes available. The effect is robust to controlling for potential determinants of Globo's entry strategy and is stronger for relatively smaller areas, where the signal reaches a higher fraction of the population.