Feeling the heartbeat of regions: local news and economic sentiments

Tom Broekel

Journal of Economic Geography, 2025, vol. 25, issue 6, 937-976

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.

Keywords: news; media; sentiments; regional growth (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C55 O33 R11 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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