Failures in the Marketplace of Ideas: Misinformation, Disinformation and the Affordable Care Act

Simple item page
dc.contributor.advisorWolfson, Dorothea I.en_US
dc.contributor.authorMoore, Carly Nicoleen_US
dc.date.accessioned2015-09-16T04:11:02Z
dc.date.available2015-09-16T04:11:02Z
dc.date.created2015-05en_US
dc.date.issued2015-06-03en_US
dc.date.submittedMay 2015en_US
dc.description.abstractA healthy democracy requires an informed citizenry with access to accurate information. There is evidence that misinformation is prevalent in our society on topics of public policy. This paper examines how citizens become misinformed and if the media and political elites might be contributing to the problem. This paper examines misinformation in context of the theory of democracy as a marketplace of ideas where the truth, given a free and open encounter with other ideas, will prevail. Given the existence of misinformation, this research asked what market failures might be prohibiting the truth-seeking function of the marketplace from work properly. This research answers these questions using case studies, comparative analysis, and analysis of public polling data. The research concludes that misinformation is both present and persistent on an important topic of public policy, the Affordable Care Act. This paper finds five marketplace failures that allow misinformation to proliferate: weakened or divided countervailing institutions, press responding to economic incentives over accuracy, dishonest political speech as a result of short office tenure, a lack of punishment mechanisms for dishonest political speech, and a polarized, niche media bubble.en_US
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdfen_US
dc.identifier.urihttp://jhir.library.jhu.edu/handle/1774.2/38082
dc.languageen
dc.publisherJohns Hopkins University
dc.subjectmisinformationen_US
dc.subjectdisinformationen_US
dc.subjecthealth care policyen_US
dc.subjectthe Affordable Care Acten_US
dc.subjectACAen_US
dc.subjectliesen_US
dc.subjectframingen_US
dc.titleFailures in the Marketplace of Ideas: Misinformation, Disinformation and the Affordable Care Acten_US
dc.typeThesisen_US
dc.type.materialtexten_US
thesis.degree.departmentGovernment Programen_US
thesis.degree.disciplineGovernmenten_US
thesis.degree.grantorJohns Hopkins Universityen_US
thesis.degree.grantorAdvanced Academic Programsen_US
thesis.degree.levelMastersen_US
thesis.degree.nameM.A.en_US
Files
License bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
No Thumbnail Available
Name:
LICENSE.txt
Size:
2.68 KB
Format:
Plain Text
Description:
Download
Collections
ETD -- Graduate theses