New research reveals a surprising connection between Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP) sightings and financial conditions across the United States, according to a study by a team with The Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
Dr. Ohad Raveh of Hebrew University and Dr. Nathan Goldstein of Bar-Ilan University have introduced innovative methods of measuring public interest by analyzing UAP reports, which they say has revealed “a surprising link between UAP sightings and macroeconomic conditions at the U.S.-county, state, and national levels.”
Their findings challenge conventional metrics for assessing economic behavior, revealing how UAP sightings align with financial trends, inform policymaking, and provide insights into public adaptation to economic shocks, such as the COVID-19 pandemic and shifts in monetary policy.
In an email to The Debrief, Dr. Raveh explained what motivated he and Goldstein to explore the potential connection between UAP sightings and economic conditions.
“As a social scientist fascinated by the UAP phenomenon, I was disappointed by the grave scarcity of studies that examine the social aspects of it,” Dr. Raveh explained, “especially as official reports (by NASA and others) confirm that about 95-98 percent of UAP sightings have conventional explanations, thus suggesting that patterns of UAP sightings are rooted in human and social behavior.
“This inspired undertaking a deeper examination, pursuing an unconventional hypothesis which ties sky viewing to economic attention,” Raveh said.
Key Findings on UAP Sightings
The researchers analyzed data from The National UFO Reporting Center (NUFORC), which spans over 20 years and is tracked across the United States. Raveh and Goldstein discovered that UAP sightings tend to occur more frequently in wealthier areas, but also tend to increase during economic downturns and decrease during periods of economic stability in those same regions.
This, they say, suggests that interest in unusual events like UAPs fluctuates based on broader societal conditions, especially during times of uncertainty.
“The counter-cyclicality on its own may point at various behaviors, ranging from, say, mental breakdowns, to extended leisure time; i.e., when unemployment rises, for example, the extent of UAP sightings increase because people may have more time on their hands, or otherwise they may be affected by the mental stress involved with unemployment,” Raveh explains.
“The key point, however, is that the patterns of UAP sightings are not only counter-cyclical, but they also exhibit a positive correlation with wealth cross-sectionally; i.e., at any given point in time, the extent of UAP sightings tend to be higher in wealthier regions, going against a mentally-related hypothesis,” he added.