Business & Economics Publications

The Media and Markets: How Systematic Misreporting Inflates Bubbles, Deepens Downturns and Distorts Economic Reality

August 11, 2014, 12:06 pm
By Stefan Theil

A paper by Fall 2013 Fellow Stefan Theil looks at the systematic mistakes that editors and reporters repeatedly make when they cover the economy.

Rebelling Against the Rich: Lessons from the media’s coverage of the 1% divide

September 10, 2012, 10:59 am
By Nina Easton

A paper by former Fellow Nina Easton looks at how the media has covered wealth, as well as recent reporting on the one percent and Occupy Wall Street.

How Much Would You Pay to Save the Planet? The American Press and the Economics of Climate Change

January 1, 2009, 2:56 pm
By Eric Pooley

A paper by Eric Pooley, fall 2008 fellow, examines how the media has covered the economics of climate change. This paper follows coverage of the economic debate over Senate Bill 2191, the Lieberman-Warner Climate Security Act of 2008, which called…

Lost in the Travel Pages: The Global Industry Hiding Inside the Sunday Newspaper

June 1, 2008, 3:32 pm
By Elizabeth Becker

A paper by Elizabeth Becker, spring 2008 fellow, explores why the business side of travel is so seldom covered by journalists – and the implications. Despite being a fast-growing, $7 trillion international industry that impacts cities and wilderness, sometimes quite negatively,…

Media Coverage of Corporate Social Responsibility

January 1, 2003, 3:29 pm
By James T. Hamilton

A paper by James T. Hamilton, fall 2002 Kalb Chair on Global Communications, explores the factors shaping media coverage of corporate social responsibility (CSR). This paper first reviews the many theories and definitions of CSR. Debates about CSR in academia,…

The Business Media and the New Economy

January 1, 2001, 4:35 pm
By Jeff Madrick

A paper by Jeff Madrick, spring 2001 fellow, argues that the media, entranced with the economic idea of “the new economy” in the 1990s, missed other important trends detrimental to the economy overall. The broad faith in a new economy…

Strategic Public Relations, Sweatshops, and the Making of a Global Movement

January 1, 2000, 10:56 am
By B.J. Bullert

A paper by B.J. Bullert, fall 1999 fellow, examines communication tactics used by activists against multinational corporations. The 1999 World Trade Organization protests in Seattle succeeded in linking labor, environmental concerns and human rights to the WTO, resulting in a…

Money, Markets & the News: Press Coverage of the Modern Revolution in Financial Institutions

March 1, 1999, 12:00 pm

In March 1999, the Shorenstein Center convened a conference of journalists, financial industry leaders, and policymakers to discuss the press’s coverage of the changes that have fundamentally reshaped American and global financial markets in the past 20 years. Gathering in…

Journalism and Economics: The Tangled Webs of Profession, Narrative, and Responsibility in a Modern Democracy

January 1, 1997, 3:59 pm
By Richard Parker

Richard Parker, Lecturer in Public Policy, writes about the need for a new way of reporting on economic issues – one that better incorporates the public. Parker argues that even the clearest statement of what economists know about policy, written…