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Yasemin Savas Yildiz
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publications
Short-term exposure to filter-bubble recommendation systems has limited polarization effects: Naturalistic experiments on YouTube
N. Liu, X.E. Hu, Y. Savas, M.A. Baum, A.J. Berinsky, A.J.B. Chaney, C. Lucas, R. Mariman, J. de Benedictis-Kessner, A.M. Guess, D. Knox, & B.M. Stewart
Published in PNAS, 2025
An enormous body of literature argues that recommendation algorithms drive political polarization by creating “filter bubbles” and “rabbit holes.” Using four experiments with nearly 9,000 participants, we show that manipulating algorithmic recommendations to create these conditions has limited effects on opinions. Our experiments employ a custom-built video platform with a naturalistic, YouTube-like interface presenting real YouTube videos and recommendations. We experimentally manipulate YouTube’s actual recommendation algorithm to simulate filter bubbles and rabbit holes by presenting ideologically balanced and slanted choices. Our design allows us to intervene in a feedback loop that has confounded the study of algorithmic polarization—the complex interplay between supply of recommendations and user demand for content—to examine downstream effects on policy attitudes. We use over 130,000 experimentally manipulated recommendations and 31,000 platform interactions to estimate how recommendation algorithms alter users’ media consumption decisions and, indirectly, their political attitudes. Our results cast doubt on widely circulating theories of algorithmic polarization by showing that even heavy-handed (although short-term) perturbations of real-world recommendations have limited causal effects on policy attitudes. Given our inability to detect consistent evidence for algorithmic effects, we argue the burden of proof for claims about algorithm-induced polarization has shifted. Our methodology, which captures and modifies the output of real-world recommendation algorithms, offers a path forward for future investigations of black-box artificial intelligence systems. Our findings reveal practical limits to effect sizes that are feasibly detectable in academic experiments.
Severe droughts in Senegal are linked to increased family reunification at migration destinations in Europe
Y. Savas
Published in Nature Communications, 2026
Research increasingly links climate shocks to cross-border mobility. Migration scholars often frame migration as a temporary, household-level decision to diversify economic risks. It is unclear whether this holds when risks become persistent and intensifying, as with climate change. Focusing on Europe-bound migration from Senegal, we combine individual-level immigration records with granular weather data to understand whether climatic stress increases the likelihood of family reunification at the destination, a potential signal for permanent settlement. Findings indicate that severe drought is associated with increased reunification. Social connections, legal documentation, household wealth, and agricultural involvement moderate the drought-reunification association. Gender also relates to reunification patterns. Married women are less likely to follow their spouses, potentially due to their traditional family roles, which may eventually increase their exposure to climate-related risks. These results suggest that persistent environmental stress may transform the nature of international migration from Africa, with implications for long-term demographic change.
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teaching
Teaching experience 1
Undergraduate course, University 1, Department, 2014
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Teaching experience 2
Workshop, University 1, Department, 2015
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