Fake News and Indifference to Truth

David Allen, Michael McAleer and David McHardy Reid

No EI2018-10, Econometric Institute Research Papers from Erasmus University Rotterdam, Erasmus School of Economics (ESE), Econometric Institute

Abstract: State of the Union Addresses (SOUA) by two recent US Presidents, President Obama (2016) and President Trump (2018), and a series of recent of tweets by President Trump, are analysed by means of the data mining technique, sentiment analysis. The intention is to explore the contents and sentiments of the messages contained, the degree to which they dier, and their potential implications for the national mood and state of the economy. President Trump's 2018 SOUA and his sample tweets are identied as being more positive in sentiment than President Obama's 2016 SOUA. This is conrmed by bootstrapped t tests and non-parametric sign tests on components of the respective sentiment scores. The issue of whether overly positive pronouncements amount to self-promotion, rather than intrinsic merit or sentiment, is a topic for future research.

Keywords: Sentiment Analysis; Polarity; Bootstrapped t tests; Sign tests (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: A1 C44 C88 Z0 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 22
Date: 2018-03-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-pol
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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