One writer once remarked that “The news media are, for the most part, the bringers of bad news… and it’s not entirely the media’s fault, bad news gets higher ratings and sells more papers than good news.” Economic news is no exception (especially in an election year). After all, newspapers don’t write about safe drivers; they write about car wrecks; bad news sells.
A blog post from ITR Economists Lauren Saidel-Baker and Lindsey Wornham on this topic features an embedded video on the “The Dangers of Misleading News Headlines” which recaps findings on the power of negativity on our choices from one of the world’s leading research journals, “Nature”, that may help you be a more discerning consumer of all news, economic and other.
This weeks’ FedWatch from ITR can be found here.
Economics is called the ‘dismal science’ for several reasons: When there is good news, there is always a downside and vice-versa. Today’s jobs report is a good example. Employment grew by an anemic 114,000 jobs in the US, but some were cheered by the possibility that this signifies a slowing economy and inflation and perhaps an incentive for the Feds to reduce interest rates. Dr. Brian Wesbury looks at both sides in his one page July Employment Report.
