How it works

The frequency of use of various economics-related keywords in blogs is downloaded daily from Technorati. The total across all words is calculated to generate a daily measure of economics "chatter" on blogs. The indicator above shows the total level of chatter over the past day relative to the average for the past 180 days. The lowest level represents total chatter for the past day lower than the 180 day average minus two times the standard deviation of the total over the same period. Level 2 represents total chatter between one and two standard deviations below average. Level 3 is within one standard deviation above or below average, level 4 is between one and two standard deviations above average, and level 5 is more than two standard deviations above average.

The list below shows all words for which data is collected (unfortunately Technorati can only give results for single words, not phrases). Click a word below to see the graph of the frequency of use of that word in blogs over the past 180 days, or click here to view all graphs on a single page (opens in a new window). Words in bold have significant positive spikes in the past 14 days.

Data courtesy of Technorati.