consumer spending

Following the third consecutive fall of The Conference Board’s Consumer Confidence Index, the Ford School's Justin Wolfers told CNN, “The fact that consumers don’t feel like it’s smooth sailing — you’ve got one very obvious suspect. That’s the White...

Ford School professor of public policy and economics Betsey Stevenson writes in Bloomberg about the relationship or lack of relationship between consumer sentiment and economic performance. Instead, she says, we should focus "on consumers' ability...

Betsey Stevenson, Ford School professor says consumers likely "have been watching the news where people tell them Trump is going to put tariffs on everything and which is what he has promised and that that will caused prices to go up." So while they...

Justin Wolfers, Ford School professor, talked about impacts of Trump's election on the market and the economy, saying "the market seems happy but that's because he is likely to deliver the tax cuts that make stocks more valuable." Also he noted,...

Betsey Stevenson, Ford School professor talked with Ian Masters on Background Briefing about the growing economic inequality in America. She said "I believe very strongly that growing inequality and a lack of opportunity for many if not most...

Betsey Stevenson, Ford School professor, talked with Bloomberg about why consumers are still feeling bad about the economy, she said "one of the reasons consumers have been so grumbling and so complaining they are continuing to spend and that's...

 Betsey Stevenson's commentary in Bloomberg this week highlights what happens when businesses make it hard for consumers to find low prices. Often, consumers don't have the time or energy to negotiate for discounts or insist on a refund and end up...

Ford School professor Betsey Stevenson talked with CNN and discussed the outlook for the economy. She said, "What I see is an economy that has been slowing down for the last year." She said that the news about the economy on Friday was not very big...

“The most likely explanation for our findings is that Black—and to a lesser extent Hispanic—families were more concerned about the health risks associated with in-person schooling than white families. This is consistent with the fact that nonwhite...

Justin Wolfers, Marketplace: Downbeat indicators don’t tell the whole story. Take consumers, said Justin Wolfers, an economics professor at the University of Michigan. They might say they’re pessimistic about the economy. “But if you look at what...