“Social media advertising and macroeconomic expectations: Evidence from Meta,” co-authored by Assistant Professor of Economics Cody Couture and Ann Owen, the Henry Platt Bristol Chair of Public Policy and Professor of Economics, was recently published in the journal Economics Letters.
Couture and Owen examined the relationship between social media advertising that addresses economic issues finding that social media targeting results in people in different demographic groups receiving different amounts of exposure to these economic ads. “For example, ads targeted at older adults are disproportionately about inflation and those that live in Democratic states received more negative ads about economic issues,” they said.
They also found that social media ads have an impact on expectations about the economy, but that impact is primarily driven by women in the 35 to 44 age group.
“Taken together, these results imply that the transition from television advertising to digital advertising, and the broader transition away from mass media, could cause further divergence in how individuals receive information and perceive the macroeconomy.”
The co-authors noted that their results are based solely on Meta ads and that the “effects [of ads] on other social media platforms may differ based on the platform’s user base or implementation of advertisements.”
Posted September 12, 2025
