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Measuring Social Unrest Using Media Reports

Author

Listed:
  • Mr. Philip Barrett
  • Maximiliano Appendino
  • Kate Nguyen
  • Jorge de Leon Miranda

Abstract

We present a new index of social unrest based on counts of relevant media reports. The index consists of individual monthly time series for 130 countries, available with almost no lag, and can be easily and transparently replicated. Spikes in the index identify major events, which correspond very closely to event timelines from external sources for four major regional waves of social unrest. We show that the cross-sectional distribution of the index can be simply and precisely characterized, and that social unrest is associated with a 3 percentage point increase in the frequency of social unrest domestically and a 1 percent increase in neighbors in the next six months. Despite this, social unrest is not a better predictor of future social unrest than the country average rate.

Suggested Citation

  • Mr. Philip Barrett & Maximiliano Appendino & Kate Nguyen & Jorge de Leon Miranda, 2020. "Measuring Social Unrest Using Media Reports," IMF Working Papers 2020/129, International Monetary Fund.
    • Handle: RePEc:imf:imfwpa:2020/129
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Hadzi-Vaskov Metodij & Pienknagura Samuel & Ricci Luca Antonio, 2023. "The Macroeconomic Impact of Social Unrest," The B.E. Journal of Macroeconomics, De Gruyter, vol. 23(2), pages 917-958, June.
    2. Marina Diakonova & Luis Molina & Hannes Mueller & Javier J. Pérez & Cristopher Rauh, 2022. "The information content of conflict, social unrest and policy uncertainty measures for macroeconomic forecasting," Working Papers 2232, Banco de España.
    3. Mr. Philip Barrett & Sophia Chen & Miss Mali Chivakul & Ms. Deniz O Igan, 2021. "Pricing Protest: The Response of Financial Markets to Social Unrest," IMF Working Papers 2021/079, International Monetary Fund.
    4. Diakonova, Marina & Ghirelli, Corinna & Molina, Luis & Pérez, Javier J., 2023. "The economic impact of conflict-related and policy uncertainty shocks: The case of Russia," International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 174(C), pages 69-90.
    5. Diakonova, M. & Molina, L. & Mueller, H. & Pérez, J. J. & Rauh, C., 2024. "The Information Content of Conflict, Social Unrest and Policy Uncertainty Measures for Macroeconomic Forecasting," Cambridge Working Papers in Economics 2418, Faculty of Economics, University of Cambridge.
    6. Diakonova, M. & Molina, L. & Mueller, H. & Pérez, J. J. & Rauh, C., 2024. "The Information Content of Conflict, Social Unrest and Policy Uncertainty Measures for Macroeconomic Forecasting," Janeway Institute Working Papers 2413, Faculty of Economics, University of Cambridge.

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