Searching for Schumpeter: Historic topic modeling analysis of the Economist Magazine from 1960 to 2010.

Abstract

Even though the academic economic discourse seems to be far removed from the more popular economic discussion their influence should not be underestimated. The popular weekly magazine The Economist reports to its influential readership about the political and economic events around the world. The way in which they cover these events is influenced by the academic discourse. The digestion of these theories into the more mainstream economic discourse is the subject of this research. In the last quarter of the twenty-first century, the economic discourse shifted from the hegemony of one economic theorist to another. Government-regulated economic policies made way for the more laissez-faire market. This transition was founded in the theories of Schumpeter's business cycle.

Through the use of topic modeling, the output of the Economist magazine will be analysed to find out whether or not this shift in economic discourse affected the output of the Economist magazine. Starting in the year 1960 the analysis covers fifty years of the output by the Economist magazine. Through the topic distribution as established through topic modeling these changes within the report of the Economist become visible