Vibecession



Vibecession is a neologism that refers to a disconnect between the economy of a country and the general public's negative perception of it, which is mostly pessimistic. The term was coined by Kyla Scanlon in a June 2022 newsletter about Americans' view of their economy. It is a portmanteau of the words 'vibes' and 'recession'.

In the United States
The United States is considered by many to have entered a period of vibecession in early 2022, which continued throughout 2023 and is speculated to have ended around January of 2024.

When polled, most Americans had a negative perception of the economy, with some saying that it had even entered a period of recession, while data showed that inflation was going down and GDP growing. This pessimism about the overall economy heavily contrasted with Americans' perception of their own financial situation, which they said was mostly positive. This alleged vibecession is believed to have been one of the major causes of President Joe Biden's decline in popularity around that time.

The American vibecession has mostly been blamed on the news media, specifically the market incentives that drive both traditional and alternative news outlets to focus on dramatic and negative news, such as some economists predicting a recession for 2023 that never came. The public itself is also said to have negativity bias, in other words, people tend to choose to watch and read negative news rather than positive ones.