The impact of economic news
Recent economic news has certainly been gloomy. Studies confirm that negative economic news causes us to think more negative thoughts and can lead to a loss of confidence in the political system. Surprisingly, these effects are the same regardless of our age, work and education level. The content and tone of news items and relevant economic context are key: we are most susceptible to negative news before the start of an actual crisis. These are the main conclusions of a recent UvA study aimed at determining how economic news affects our views on the economy, confidence in the economy and political preferences. Rens Vliegenthart, professor of Communication Science, received an NWO Vidi grant for this five-year research project, and assembled a team with Mark Boukes, Alyt Damstra and Jeroen Jonkman. The project has now been completed, so we thought it was time to ask Vliegenthart about their approach and findings. What were your main research questions? . Newspapers and other media report on the state of the economy on a daily basis. For example, they report on businesses' profits and losses, employment, and share prices. While these stories can also be favourable, the tone and content are more often negative. The UvA team studied the effects of economic news: How does economic news affect our perceptions of the economy? How do these perceptions subsequently affect our sense of confidence in the economy, and political preferences? How do European countries differ in this regard? How does economic news affect politicians and the issues they raise? So how did you approach the study?
