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Sectoral Media Focus and Aggregate Fluctuations

Author

Listed:
  • Ryan Chahrour

    (Boston College)

  • Kristoffer Nimark

    (Cornell University)

  • Stefan Pitschner

    (Uppsala University)

Abstract

We formalize the editorial role of news media in a multi-sector economy and show that media can be an independent source of business cycle fluctuations, even when the information they report is accurate. Our approach tightly links agents’ beliefs to real economic developments and allows for incomplete information without exogenous noise shocks. In the model, media monitor the economy, making state-dependent decisions on which subset of sectors to report. Accurate public reporting about sectoral developments that are newsworthy but unrepresentative, causes firms in all sectors to over- or underinvest in productive capacity. We construct historical time series of sectoral news coverage in the US and use them to calibrate a multi-sector model driven only by sectoral TFP shocks. Time-varying media focus generates demand-like aggregate fluctuations that are orthogonal to productivity. Presented with historical productivity shocks constructed by the BEA, the model reproduces the 2009 Great Recession.

Suggested Citation

  • Ryan Chahrour & Kristoffer Nimark & Stefan Pitschner, 2019. "Sectoral Media Focus and Aggregate Fluctuations," Boston College Working Papers in Economics 987, Boston College Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:boc:bocoec:987
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
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    Keywords

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    JEL classification:

    • E32 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles - - - Business Fluctuations; Cycles
    • D83 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Search; Learning; Information and Knowledge; Communication; Belief; Unawareness
    • D84 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Expectations; Speculations

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