Did social media cause the banking panic?
New technology does more than just speed up financial wobbles
The banking turmoil that has sent a handful of American and European lenders to the wall in recent weeks has a new feature. Use of social media and messaging apps, which spread information at lightning pace to an ever-larger group of panickers, marks a break from past crises. Meanwhile, new digital-finance tools let nervous depositors withdraw funds as soon as the notion strikes them, whether from offices in San Francisco or ski slopes in Saint Moritz.
This article appeared in the Finance & economics section of the print edition under the headline “Crossed wires”
Finance & economics April 1st 2023
- Will the recent banking chaos lead to an economic crash?
- Commercial-property losses will add to banks’ woes
- European banks and the price of safety
- Did social media cause the banking panic?
- Western lenders may regret forcing Ukraine to turn to the IMF
- How rare-gas supply adapted to Russia’s war
- Which countries have escaped the middle-income trap?
- China is now an unlikely safe haven
From the April 1st 2023 edition
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