The Dollars That Make a Difference: Results of the New Survey of Consumer Finances

By Matthew Shaw and Karen Petrou

Every three years, the Federal Reserve releases a unique, illuminating data set, the Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF).  The most recent report covering 2016 to 2019 comes at a time of acute political risk for the U.S. central bank due to growing demands for a third, “racial-equity” mandate and heightened recognition of the inequality impact of post-crisis monetary policy.  Perhaps for this reason, the Fed’s qualitative release and much subsequent media coverage highlighted what the Fed described as meaningful reductions in both wealth and income inequality.  Would it were so – percentages sometimes work in the Fed’s favor, but real dollars in people’s pockets, or the acute lack thereof, don’t.

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A Paradox: U.S. Growth and Who Got Left Behind

By Matthew Shaw

Absent geopolitical or market surprises, the current U.S. expansion will by summer be the longest consecutive period of economic growth on record.  That’s the good news.  The toxic side-effect of all this prosperity:  how little of it is equitably shared and how angry that makes the majority of Americans ahead of the next election.  If income and wealth growth over the 2016-2019 period tracks 2010 to 2016, then the middle class will be no better off in 2019 than 2001 even with almost a decade of aggregate growth. Continue reading “A Paradox: U.S. Growth and Who Got Left Behind”