The old Dilemma of the low or high profile on the part of economists and businessmen seems to have been settled with the progressive adoption of social networks as an instrument of dissemination and public discussion. The global pioneer is none other than a 2008 Nobel laureate in Economics, the North American Paul Krugmanwho in addition to being a sought-after professor at elite universities on the East Coast of the United States, is the star columnist for the New York Times, maintains a blog about economic comments and proposals.
In addition, in recent years it has successfully ventured into social networks, being a benchmark in the field, leading for a long time the ranking of professionals in the economy and business with the most followers: 4.6 million last July. It was only surpassed by the rising Gustavo Petrowhich, driven by his successful electoral campaign (he was elected president of Colombia), reached 5.6 million followers.
networks open
The data arises from a measurement prepared by the Center for Economic and Business Analysis, of the UCA and for him Atlas Network. The study sought to identify the most important influencers from Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Chile, Mexico, the United States and Spain who use Twitter to discuss economics, finance and economic policy. From it comes the ranking of Economic Influencers, in which it aimed to identify the top ten economic influencers in each country, classifying them based on the number of followers and also the impact of their publications. The teacher Juan Carlos Rosellowho coordinated the team (in which the teachers Roberto Salinas Leon and the dean Charles Newland), explains that in the measurement carried out in July they again identified the ten most important personalities in each country and compared their evolution with respect to the previous measurement (2020).
The sample is taken on the same day, noting the followers of all those involved in the different networks and the weighting of the impact, which it is verified through a program that links the Twitter database, adding the number of tweets and retweets that communication had in a given time and an average of the “likes” for each of them. The first measurement is simple and shows the number of followers of each one, but above all, the ups and downs that they suffered over time and the hypotheses that can be outlined about these behaviors are analyzed.
For example, Rosiello describes some of the trends that can be verified. “In general, when the protagonists conflict with those who comment and criticize, they begin to lose likes and then followers”, Explain. In addition, to situate them in terms of their positions, they opened the categories of pro-market, pro-State or center. And it was observed, therefore, that, in each country, the main protagonists have more success when they are located on the opposite side of the status quo of the current system, objectified through the indicators of the Global Index of Economic Mentality (2020).
The cases
For example, in the United States, the lead is led by Paul Krugman who is a critic, albeit moderate, of the largest capitalist system in the world. In Colombia, another country that contrasts with its Bolivarian neighbor Venezuela, the current president, Gustavo Petro, an economist who based his popularity on the need for a change in the liberal-conservative tradition that governed the country in the last decades. In Chile, the influencers who advocated a change in the system in force until the inauguration of Gabriel Boric gained ground last March, fighting inch by inch with the defenders of the successful system of free enterprise personified lately by Piñera (axel kaiser on one side “capitalist” and Ricardo Lagosin the most statist position).
In the last two cases, the political success of the current presidents will perhaps conspire against the impact of more sympathetic economists. In Brazil, there is a mix of content: influencers not only touch on economic policy topics, but also address the business and finance universes. stands out, Ricardo Amorim (with 1.4 million followers) followed by Constantine Rodrigo (1.2 million), but the figures are reversed in terms of impact. Rodrigo goes to first place, comfortable and relegates Amorim to third because the libertarian appears second Mattar Salim (308% growth since 2020).
And at home?
Argentina was not only exempt from this trend: it embarked on producing many “success stories” considering its population. As for the followers, the current national senator Martin Lousteau took the lead in a space that knows how to use interspersing proposals, criticism and concrete data. He was 6th in the global ranking of followers (1.17 million) and leads the local table, escorted by two other colleagues from Congress: Javier Milei (619 thousand) and Joseph L. Espert (598 thousand) and another former legislator and official, Alfonso Prat Gay (594 thousand).
Among the first ten, only one appears as “pro-State”, the economist and journalist Alejandro Bercovich (fifth, with 391 thousand). But who follows him, the economist Manuel Adorni, leads the other ranking: impact, after two years of uninterrupted rise. He tops it by tripling the performance of the next three: Espert, Milei and Lousteau, in that order. Former Minister Guzmán, who was still a minister when the measurement was made, seems to be in the opposite direction: -64% since 2020. At least for the networks, it does not seem like a good deal to reach the top in the Ministry of Economy.
by Tristan Rodriguez Loredo
