The document summarizes a presentation given at the 12th International Post Keynesian Conference in Kansas City in 2014. The presentation analyzed the linguistic framing of financial crises in media discourse over time, comparing pre-2007, 2007-2008, and post-2008 samples. The analysis found a shift towards language more aligned with Minsky's financial instability hypothesis, suggesting endogenous crises, rather than the mainstream view of exogenous shocks. Limitations were noted, but it was argued that further empirical linguistic analysis of larger datasets could provide insights into evolving crisis narratives.

1. 12th International Post Keynesian Conference,
Kansas City, Sept 25-27, 2014
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12th International Post Keynesian Conference UMKC, Sept 25-27, 2014 Pilkington - Sinapi

2.  While Minsky conceptualizes the crisis as endogenous and inherent in the
development of financial capitalism, the mainstream model (hereafter MM) posits
the existence of a stable equilibrium: the crisis is always and everywhere a
temporary deviation from equilibrium, merely caused by an external shock.
 RQ : Does financial media discourse lean one way or the other? Are financial
reports/analyses neutral in discursive terms?
 Working hypothesis: the Minskian and mainstream approaches both turn underlying
concepts into distinct discourses.
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3. Financial Instability Hypothesis Mainstream Approaches
Background
Keynes’ General theory:
- No self-adjustment of markets
- Non-equilibrating markets
Neoclassical economics:
- Invisible hand : self-regulation arguments
- Existence/stability of market equilibrium
Role of finance &
financial systems
. Central to the analysis
. Triggering the instability & BC mechanisms
. Added to the analysis
. Optimal allocation of resources to investment
Crisis perspective . Inherent in the system
. Endogenously generated
. Transitory phenomenon
. External shock required
Agential behavior . Rejection of the rationality hypothesis in spite of
information asymmetries
. Key role for Institutional arrangements
. Rational expectations hypothesis
. Imperfections (information asymmetries)
perceived as biases
Dynamics Dual dynamics :
. Medium term : business cycle / FIH
. Long-term dynamic (evolutionary): development
of capitalism through historical time
Static :
. Equilibrium as reference
. Search for natural laws /
universal economic mechanisms
Policy implications Intervention / regulation needed Neither intervention nor regulation required /
12th International Post Keynesian Conference UMKC, Sept 25-27, 2014 Pilkington - Sinapi 3
detrimental role of intervention

4.  Tropes text analysis
 Linguistic analysis software
 Based on cognitive-discursive analysis
 Language studies center stage in social psychology:
“language is not the mere vehicle of communication that would convey meaning and intention in all transparency.
Language is opaque, it is an object that is handled and used so as to exert an action on another person” (Richard,
2000, p.342, our translation)
 Corpus selection and relevance : homogeneity and comparability
 a common theme: the financial crisis
 three chronological samples: pre-2007, 2007-2008, post 2008
 a common article/text format: opinion articles (edito) taken from the specialized press
=> 3 representative press sections in the US, the UK, France (representativeness & readership
criteria)
(Given our focus on financial media discourse, academic papers are ruled out from the onset)
=> a data base of 300 articles (100 per chronological sample)
 A common enunciative stance; to achieve coherence in the comparison
 Exploratory results & method based on 3 editorials from the same author (M. Wolf) and the
same title (Financial Times).
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5.  Semantic analysis
 Text style identification
 Word categorization
 Conceptual apparatus (relations : predecessor / successor, acted / actant)
=> Linguistic analytical grid : relations (actant -> acted) and narrative, may indicate
the internal workings of the conceptual scheme embedded in the text
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7. Central,
acted
Graph 1a Representative field 1 (Tropes software)
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actant

8. predecessor
successor
Graph 1b Relations connecting ‘world’ and ‘economy’ in corpus 1
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9. Graph 2a Representative field 1 (Tropes software)
Remains the central
representative field
previously actant, has
become acted, and has
moved much closer to the
center
Corpus 2' threefold argumentation: the crisis is the most severe since the 1930s
(1), economic recovery will thus require mass scale government intervention (2)
and the previous "unbalanced" economic regime will not be restored (3)
12th International Post Keynesian Conference UMKC, Sept 25-27, 2014 Pilkington - Sinapi 9

10. A slight shift in the underlying theoretical
framework?
Graph 2b Relations connecting ‘world’ and ‘economy’
Semantic fields :
the reference "shock" has
disappeared, while new items hint at
a more Keynesian-oriented mindset
(i.e.: "demand", "spirit")
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11. Graph 3a Representative field 1 (Tropes software)
"crisis" acted
=> suggesting that the crisis is
endogenous to the financial
system. (sharp contrast with
first corpus "shock")
Finance again the central reference,
but most fields have changed
Corpus 2 argumentation : 'The consensus view
of the world economy has become more
optimistic, for good reason''. General
argument is one of measured optimism in the
light of a sustained recovery at the global
level.
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12. Crisis : both predecessors
and successors (field 1),
which may indicate some
sort of reflexive
conceptual apparatus
(id. For 'debt', field3
Graph 2b Relations connecting ‘growth and ‘economy’ in corpus 3 (Tropes extract)
“Economy” continues to
occupy a central position,
but the latter is
connected to ‘growth’
and ‘debt’
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13. Graph 2c Relations connecting ‘economy’ and 'debt' in corpus 3 under Tropes
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14. Corpus 1 : pre-crisis
absolute
frequency
relative
frequency
Corpus 2 :
crisis
absolute
frequency
relative
frequency
Corpus 3 :
post-crisis
absolute
frequency
1 money 12 1,1% crisis 13 1,1% growth 15 1,4%
2 oil 10 0,9% deficit 9 0,8% economy 12 1,1%
3 deficit 9 0,8% demand 7 0,6% crisis 8 0,7%
4 growth 8 0,7% economy 6 0,5% income 8 0,7%
5 account 5 0,5% national_income 5 0,4% debt 6 0,5%
6 rise 4 0,4% unemployment 4 0,3% shortfall 3 0,3%
7 economy 4 0,4% output 4 0,3% reform 3 0,3%
8 shock 4 0,4% surplus 3 0,3% weakness 3 0,3%
9 national_income 4 0,4% growth 3 0,3% decline 3 0,3%
10 finance 4 0,4% rescue 3 0,3% bank 3 0,3%
Table 1 Top 10 significant (conceptually relevant) references
rank
relative
frequency
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15. Table 2 List of 'most frequent references': an attempt at semantic classification
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16.  Exploratory results suggests a slight shift in embedded linguistic frames (cf. relations analysis :
towards a more reflexive apparatus regarding economy, crisis, debt) and semantic analysis
(representative fields, references frequencies) in crisis perception and related mechanisms
 Suggests a more Minskian understanding of the financial crisis, or at least a stronger intellectual influence of
the latter in financial media discourse, whereas it was previously absent before the crisis
 Important limitations of our approach, which remains exploratory and methodologically oriented
 corpus is voluntarily restricted for convenience purposes
 the method is limited to semantic analysis and the use of a single software program (i.e. Tropes)
 Nonetheless : crisis-related discourse from a linguistic, albeit embryonic, standpoint, helps us
make concrete recommendations for future research
 more extensive empirical linguistics analysis
 much larger database (of three hundred articles) structured around subtler time intervals and divided
between the French and the Anglo-Saxon press
 linguistic concepts derived from frame semantics, in order to complement the analysis conducted with
Tropes
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17. “[t]hose who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it”
George Santayana (1905, p.284)
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