How much the war in Ukraine affects Romanians and how much of it is fake news: the panic over product prices

The paper analyses the economic impact that the war in Ukraine has on the Romanian economy and the way citizens have acted when faced with a high rise in product prices. By exploring people’s behaviour, the essay finds that people did not only exhibit normally expected reactions, such as decreasing private consumption, but their actions were influenced by the ample spread of fake news and led to mass panic, queuing and buying large quantities of certain products which were erroneously believed to experience a sudden and sharp increase in price. The paper then examines potential aspects explaining why Romanians become victims of price-related disinformation, such as historical aspects, past experiences, their media diet, low trust in institutions, and the malign narratives circulating in Romania’s informational space.