Search

Copyright of Management international / International Management / Gestiòn Internacional is the property of Management International and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

We examine the impact of public attention on the market during the COVID-19 outbreak. We use Google search engine to measure the level of public attention towards pandemic-related topics and analyze the effect on the 11 S&P sectors. Our results indicate that pandemic-related public attention has a substantial and adverse impact on the market. Furthermore, as governments often increase and announce stimulus packages during periods of heightened uncertainty and negative public attention, our findings indicate that higher levels of economic policy uncertainty, which are often accompanied by financial incentive announcements, can mitigate the negative impact of public attention. • Pandemic-related public attention has a significant and adverse impact on the market. • Public attention towards "Lockdown" exhibits the highest level of impact. • The public attention index explains 77% of the GSV keywords variation. • The interaction between public attention and EPU can mitigate the negative impact. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]