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How Did People Tweet against Inflation in Japan?

Author

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  • SEKINE, Toshitaka
  • WADA, Tetsuro

Abstract

During the chronic deflation era starting in the 1990s, Japanese inflation expectations were said to be firmly anchored at a very low level, say, around zero. These expectations seemed to have become something like the social norm. Households were quite against any price hikes, and as a consequence, firms hesitated to raise their prices — when they raised prices, they apologized for their misbehavior. People not only expected that prices would not increase, but also believed that prices should not increase. That social norm may have changed in response to inflationary shocks after COVID-19 and the Ukraine war. We applied a natural language processing technique to tweets that commented on price hikes and found an increase in posts after 2021 that accepted price hikes for various goods. Some of these posts indicated even positive feelings and mentioned salary hikes.

Suggested Citation

  • SEKINE, Toshitaka & WADA, Tetsuro, 2025. "How Did People Tweet against Inflation in Japan?," Discussion paper series HIAS-E-150, Hitotsubashi Institute for Advanced Study, Hitotsubashi University.
    • Handle: RePEc:hit:hiasdp:hias-e-150
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    File URL: https://hit-u.repo.nii.ac.jp/record/2061072/files/HIAS-E-150.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Shapiro, Adam Hale & Sudhof, Moritz & Wilson, Daniel J., 2022. "Measuring news sentiment," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 228(2), pages 221-243.
    2. Byeungchun Kwon & Taejin Park & Fernando Perez-Cruz & Phurichai Rungcharoenkitkul, 2024. "Large language models: a primer for economists," BIS Quarterly Review, Bank for International Settlements, December.
    3. Anton Korinek, 2023. "Generative AI for Economic Research: Use Cases and Implications for Economists," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 61(4), pages 1281-1317, December.
    4. Jess Diamond & Kota Watanabe & Tsutomu Watanabe, 2020. "The Formation Of Consumer Inflation Expectations: New Evidence From Japan'S Deflation Experience," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 61(1), pages 241-281, February.
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    Keywords

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    JEL classification:

    • C0 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - General
    • E31 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles - - - Price Level; Inflation; Deflation

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