IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ecolet/v255y2025ics0165176525004136.html

Social media advertising and macroeconomic expectations: Evidence from Meta

Author

Listed:
  • Couture, Cody
  • Owen, Ann L.

Abstract

We examine the relationship between social media advertising and macroeconomic expectations. We find evidence that social media advertising targeting results in heterogeneous exposure to sentiment and economic issues by demographic. In addition, we find evidence that social media advertising affects beliefs about the macroeconomy, particularly inflation expectations, although this result is driven by women between 35 and 44 years of age.

Suggested Citation

  • Couture, Cody & Owen, Ann L., 2025. "Social media advertising and macroeconomic expectations: Evidence from Meta," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 255(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecolet:v:255:y:2025:i:c:s0165176525004136
    DOI: 10.1016/j.econlet.2025.112576
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0165176525004136
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.econlet.2025.112576?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Mark Doms & Norman J. Morin, 2004. "Consumer sentiment, the economy, and the news media," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 2004-51, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    2. Alistair Macaulay & Wenting Song, 2023. "News Media, Inflation, and Sentiment," AEA Papers and Proceedings, American Economic Association, vol. 113, pages 172-176, May.
    3. Guy Aridor & Rafael Jiménez-Durán & Ro'ee Levy & Lena Song, 2024. "The Economics of Social Media," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 62(4), pages 1422-1474, December.
    4. Ulrike Malmendier & Stefan Nagel, 2016. "Learning from Inflation Experiences," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 131(1), pages 53-87.
    5. Joni Heikkinen & Kari Heimonen, 2025. "Media Tone: The Role of News and Social Media on Heterogeneous Inflation Expectations," Journal of Forecasting, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 44(3), pages 881-921, April.
    6. David‐Jan Jansen & Matthias Neuenkirch, 2018. "Does the Media Help the General Public in Understanding Inflation?," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 80(6), pages 1185-1212, December.
    7. Francesco D’Acunto & Ulrike Malmendier & Michael Weber, 2021. "Gender roles produce divergent economic expectations," Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 118(21), pages 2008534118-, May.
    8. Atif Mian & Amir Sufi & Nasim Khoshkhou, 2023. "Partisan Bias, Economic Expectations, and Household Spending," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 105(3), pages 493-510, May.
    9. Larsen, Vegard H. & Thorsrud, Leif Anders & Zhulanova, Julia, 2021. "News-driven inflation expectations and information rigidities," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 117(C), pages 507-520.
    10. Binder, Carola Conces & Kamdar, Rupal & Ryngaert, Jane M., 2024. "Partisan expectations and COVID-era inflation," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 148(S).
    11. Gerber, Alan S. & Gimpel, James G. & Green, Donald P. & Shaw, Daron R., 2011. "How Large and Long-lasting Are the Persuasive Effects of Televised Campaign Ads? Results from a Randomized Field Experiment," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 105(1), pages 135-150, February.
    12. Christopher D. Carroll, 2003. "Macroeconomic Expectations of Households and Professional Forecasters," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 118(1), pages 269-298.
    13. Michael Ehrmann & Damjan Pfajfar & Emiliano Santoro, 2017. "Consumers' Attitudes and Their Inflation Expectations," International Journal of Central Banking, International Journal of Central Banking, vol. 13(1), pages 225-259, February.
    14. Hunt Allcott & Luca Braghieri & Sarah Eichmeyer & Matthew Gentzkow, 2020. "The Welfare Effects of Social Media," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 110(3), pages 629-676, March.
    15. Ro'ee Levy, 2021. "Social Media, News Consumption, and Polarization: Evidence from a Field Experiment," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 111(3), pages 831-870, March.
    16. Gwangmin Kim & Carola Binder, 2023. "Learning-through-Survey in Inflation Expectations," American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 15(2), pages 254-278, April.
    17. Couture, Cody & Owen, Ann L., 2025. "Political advertising and consumer sentiment: Evidence from U.S. presidential elections," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    18. Damjan Pfajfar & Emiliano Santoro, 2013. "News on Inflation and the Epidemiology of Inflation Expectations," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 45(6), pages 1045-1067, September.
    19. Jacques Simon Song & Georges Ngnouwal Eloundou & Fabrice Bitoto Ewolo & Blaise Ondoua Beyene, 2024. "Does Social Media Contribute to Economic Growth?," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 15(2), pages 8349-8389, June.
    20. Lamla, Michael J. & Lein, Sarah M., 2014. "The role of media for consumers’ inflation expectation formation," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 106(C), pages 62-77.
    21. Manuel Arellano & Stephen Bond, 1991. "Some Tests of Specification for Panel Data: Monte Carlo Evidence and an Application to Employment Equations," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 58(2), pages 277-297.
    22. Beknazar-Yuzbashev, George & Stalinski, Mateusz, 2022. "Do social media ads matter for political behavior? A field experiment," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 214(C).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Couture, Cody & Owen, Ann L., 2025. "Political advertising and consumer sentiment: Evidence from U.S. presidential elections," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    2. Mazumder, Sandeep, 2021. "The reaction of inflation forecasts to news about the Fed," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 256-264.
    3. Chee-Hong Law & Kim Huat Goh, 2024. "A systematic literature review of the implications of media on inflation expectations," International Economics and Economic Policy, Springer, vol. 21(2), pages 311-340, May.
    4. Patrick Hirsch & Lars P. Feld & Ekkehard A. Köhler, 2023. "Breaking Monetary Policy News: The Role of Mass Media Coverage of ECB Announcements for Public Inflation Expectations," CESifo Working Paper Series 10285, CESifo.
    5. Perico Ortiz, Daniel, 2023. "Inflation news coverage, expectations and risk premium," FAU Discussion Papers in Economics 05/2023, Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg, Institute for Economics.
    6. Beknazar-Yuzbashev, George & Jiménez Durán, Rafael & McCrosky, Jesse & Stalinski, Mateusz, 2025. "Toxic content and user engagement on social media: Evidence from a field experiment," Working Papers 359, The University of Chicago Booth School of Business, George J. Stigler Center for the Study of the Economy and the State.
    7. Beknazar-Yuzbashev, George & Jiménez-Durán, Rafael & McCrosky, Jesse & Stalinski, Mateusz, 2025. "Toxic Content and User Engagement on Social Media : Evidence from a Field Experiment," The Warwick Economics Research Paper Series (TWERPS) 1543, University of Warwick, Department of Economics.
    8. Larsen, Vegard H. & Thorsrud, Leif Anders & Zhulanova, Julia, 2021. "News-driven inflation expectations and information rigidities," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 117(C), pages 507-520.
    9. Trebbi, Giovanni, 2025. "Inflation narratives and expectations," Working Paper Series 3158, European Central Bank.
    10. David-Jan Jansen & Matthias Neuenkirch, 2017. "News Consumption, Political Preferences, and Accurate Views on Inflation," Research Papers in Economics 2017-03, University of Trier, Department of Economics.
    11. David-Jan Jansen & Matthias Neuenkirch, 2017. "News Consumption, Political Preferences, and Accurate Views on Inflation," Research Papers in Economics 2017-03, University of Trier, Department of Economics.
    12. Beknazar-Yuzbashev, George & Jiménez-Durán, Rafael & McCrosky, Jesse & Stalinski, Mateusz, 2025. "Toxic Content and User Engagement on Social Media: Evidence from a Field Experiment," CAGE Online Working Paper Series 741, Competitive Advantage in the Global Economy (CAGE).
    13. George Beknazar-Yuzbashev & Rafael Jiménez-Durán & Jesse McCrosky & Mateusz Stalinski, 2025. "Toxic Content and User Engagement on Social Media: Evidence from a Field Experiment," CESifo Working Paper Series 11644, CESifo.
    14. Lena Dräger & Michael J. Lamla, 2024. "Consumers' macroeconomic expectations," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(2), pages 427-451, April.
    15. Liberini, Federica & Redoano, Michela & Russo, Antonio & Cuevas, Angel & Cuevas, Ruben, 2025. "Politics in the facebook era. Evidence from the 2016 US presidential elections," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
    16. Michael McRae, 2025. "Vertical Governance of Online Speech: Evidence from Google's Moderation Mandate," Trinity Economics Papers tep1425, Trinity College Dublin, Department of Economics.
    17. Çekin, Semih Emre & Polattimur, Hamza, 2025. "Televised inflation: Measuring TV news coverage and its effect on household expectations," ZEW Discussion Papers 25-051, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    18. Chenyu Hou & Tao Wang, 2025. "Uncovering Subjective Models from Survey Expectations," Staff Working Papers 25-31, Bank of Canada.
    19. Łyziak, Tomasz & Pedersen, Michael & Stanisławska, Ewa, 2025. "Consumer inflation expectations and local price changes: Learning from experience," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • E30 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles - - - General (includes Measurement and Data)
    • M37 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Marketing and Advertising - - - Advertising
    • E70 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macro-Based Behavioral Economics - - - General

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:ecolet:v:255:y:2025:i:c:s0165176525004136. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/ecolet .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.