How is misinformation affecting our society and how should we combat it? Write an essay in 1500 words to answer this question, focusing on one out of the three topics listed below:
(i) Misinformation and COVID-19 OR
(ii) Misinformation and elections OR
(iii) Misinformation and the fight against climate change
You may choose any (and only) one of these three topics. Note that the word “misinformation” is used loosely here and can be interpreted to include potentially both misinformation and disinformation. You are welcome to use both real-world examples and the academic literature to support your arguments. In particular, your essay should reference at least 4-5 academic papers, and when discussing a paper, include the research question, the data/method used, and the main findings. you are encouraged to go beyond the class material by providing additional evidence from elsewhere, such as other studies in economics or other fields (e.g., other social sciences and computer science etc.) that study misinformation with quantitative data and methods. Google Scholar and EconLit are good places to search for academic articles.
In addition, at the end of the essay and based on your reading of the current literature, try to briefly propose one open question (that is, a research question that has not been addressed fully or at all by existing studies in this literature) that you think would be worth exploring further by future studies; briefly explain why you think this question is important.
For the essay, you are welcome to focus on a country or region of particular interest to you or take a global approach with no geographical focus. You will be evaluated based on both the substance of your essay and the quality of the writing. In the essay’s title, please make it clear which one of the three topics you choose to write the essay on. You should cite the work referenced and are welcome to use any citation styles common in economics, such as Chicago and APA (the references section will not be counted towards the word limit).