Abstract
This paper studies the empirical relationship between the real economy, consumer confidence and economic news coverage in national newspapers for the Netherlands during the period 1990–2009. Media-attention for economic developments is associated with consumer confidence, with more negative news decreasing consumer confidence; this result holds after controlling for the real economy (stock-market). The relationship differs for different business-cycles. The effect is in particular stronger for the months following the beginning of the credit-crisis. This suggests that in line with many popular concerns negative news is among factors influencing the hardness of the landing of the current credit-crisis.
| Original language | English |
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| Pages (from-to) | 367-373 |
| Journal | Journal of Economic Psychology |
| Volume | 32 |
| Issue number | 3 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 2011 |