{"title":"Media Tone: The Role of News and Social Media on Heterogeneous Inflation Expectations","authors":"Joni Heikkinen, Kari Heimonen","doi":"10.1002/for.3225","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p>This study investigates the role of media tone on inflation expectations. Examining the relationships between news and the inflation expectations of various US demographic groupings, we find that traditional news influences older cohorts, whereas social media news align more closely with the expectations of younger and more educated groups. Interestingly, social media correspond more closely than traditional news with the expectations of professional forecasters. Our analysis shows that media influences can persist for longer than a year, highlighting the importance of historical inflation data and the gradual adaptation of new information. Additionally, we find that separate media tones for specific news topics such as “Inflation & Fed” and “Healthcare Costs” resonate differently across demographic groups. These insights highlight the nuanced role of media in shaping inflation expectations across demographic segments.</p>","PeriodicalId":47835,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Forecasting","volume":"44 3","pages":"881-921"},"PeriodicalIF":3.4000,"publicationDate":"2024-11-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/for.3225","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of Forecasting","FirstCategoryId":"96","ListUrlMain":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/for.3225","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"ECONOMICS","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
This study investigates the role of media tone on inflation expectations. Examining the relationships between news and the inflation expectations of various US demographic groupings, we find that traditional news influences older cohorts, whereas social media news align more closely with the expectations of younger and more educated groups. Interestingly, social media correspond more closely than traditional news with the expectations of professional forecasters. Our analysis shows that media influences can persist for longer than a year, highlighting the importance of historical inflation data and the gradual adaptation of new information. Additionally, we find that separate media tones for specific news topics such as “Inflation & Fed” and “Healthcare Costs” resonate differently across demographic groups. These insights highlight the nuanced role of media in shaping inflation expectations across demographic segments.
期刊介绍:
The Journal of Forecasting is an international journal that publishes refereed papers on forecasting. It is multidisciplinary, welcoming papers dealing with any aspect of forecasting: theoretical, practical, computational and methodological. A broad interpretation of the topic is taken with approaches from various subject areas, such as statistics, economics, psychology, systems engineering and social sciences, all encouraged. Furthermore, the Journal welcomes a wide diversity of applications in such fields as business, government, technology and the environment. Of particular interest are papers dealing with modelling issues and the relationship of forecasting systems to decision-making processes.