Feeling the heartbeat of regions: local news and economic sentiments

2025/07/21 by Tom Broekel · 1 voice
Social Sciences · #Media Influence and Politics

paper · doi:10.1093/jeg/lbaf031

Abstract

Abstract Timely and spatially detailed indicators of regional economic activity are limited. This article introduces the Regional Economic News Sentiments (REGENS) index, a high-frequency measure based on geocoded news headlines from 300+ German-language outlets since 2019. REGENS captures local economic sentiment, aligns with national indicators, and significantly leads regional unemployment by up to 4 months. While its link to GDP growth is weaker, it consistently reflects regional economic patterns. The study highlights how media signals contribute to understanding economic development and illustrates the potential of text-based indicators to sharpen the spatial and temporal resolution of regional monitoring.

Citations

• Mass Media Competition, Political Competition, and Public Policy
• Framing: Toward Clarification of a Fractured Paradigm
• The Agenda-Setting Function of Mass Media
• Text as Data
• Giving Content to Investor Sentiment: The Role of Media in the Stock Market
• Spinning stories: Wind turbines and local narrative landscapes in Germany
• The long-term evolution of technological complexity and its relationship with economic growth

Discussions

• Published in JoEG: REGENS: a new index tracking regional economic sentiment in real time, based on millions of geolocated news headlines. Possibly the first up-to-date regional sentiment index linking [bsky, 11 points, 1 comments]

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