Economics
Morning Consult/Axios Inequality Index: March 2024
Report summary
Key Takeaways
- The Morning Consult / Axios Inequality Index moved higher again in March, underscoring the extent to which Americans across the income spectrum are experiencing the economy differently as inflation cools.
- The recent increase in inequality reflects growing divergences in consumer sentiment and financial vulnerability: Higher-income adults have grown more confident and have managed to improve their household finances to a greater extent than lower-income adults.
- Pay loss expectations notched their second consecutive monthly increase for lower- and middle-income adults despite relatively muted actual pay losses across the income spectrum. These conflicting signals suggest the labor market remains strong while showing modest signs of cooling.
About the author
John Leer leads Morning Consult’s global economic research, overseeing the company’s economic data collection, validation and analysis. He is an authority on the effects of consumer preferences, expectations and experiences on purchasing patterns, prices and employment.
John continues to advance scholarship in the field of economics, recently partnering with researchers at the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland to design a new approach to measuring consumers’ inflation expectations.
This novel approach, now known as the Indirect Consumer Inflation Expectations measure, leverages Morning Consult’s high-frequency survey data to capture unique insights into consumers’ expectations for future inflation.
Prior to Morning Consult, John worked for Promontory Financial Group, offering strategic solutions to financial services firms on matters including credit risk modeling and management, corporate governance, and compliance risk management.
He earned a bachelor’s degree in economics and philosophy with honors from Georgetown University and a master’s degree in economics and management studies (MEMS) from Humboldt University in Berlin.
His analysis has been cited in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Reuters, The Washington Post, The Economist and more.
Follow him on Twitter @JohnCLeer. For speaking opportunities and booking requests, please email [email protected]
