The definition of Daily Mail Economics. The deliberate use of economic data to create fear, worry or exaggerated concerns about the state of the economy and society.
Daily Mail economics is not limited to the Daily Mail, it may appear in any newspaper or blog, but the Daily Mail and Daily Express usually have quite a few good examples. I didn’t get round to reading the Sun or Mirror.
Favourite themes of Daily Mail economics
- The partial use of data to suggest things are worse than they actually are.
- The highlighting of worst case scenarios.
- Only giving one side to the account
- Moral indignation about levels of debt, both public and private.
- Moral indignation about government spending, especially on ‘wasteful investment’ or welfare benefits.
- Ignoring wider social costs and benefits, but concentrating on a particular aggrieved party.
- Appealing to populist sentiments.
- Ignoring economic theory.
- Such articles invariable attract thoughtful, reasoned and balanced comments from well-informed commentators (sarcasm)
Examples of Daily Mail economics
- £2 trillion – the terrifying total of our national debt… that’s £33,000 for every man, woman and child in Britain (2009) at Daily Mail
- The horrifying graph that shows why Britain’s debt addiction now equals FIVE TIMES national GDP and why we face a decade of austerity (2012) at Daily Mail
- Welfare payments for the obese Almost 1,000 obese claimants get share of £4m a year in incapacity benefit: Two thirds have got pay-outs for more than five years a at Daily Mail
- Immigrants do take British jobs – at Daily Express
- Mass Immigration has been a total disaster for UK at Daily Express at Daily Mail
Other ways of approaching the same topics:
- National Debt Economics help.org
- Total debt at economicshelp.org
- Welfare spending in UK
- Impact of immigration