The U.S. consumer has been behaving in a number of ways that are not typical of the kind of behavior one would normally expect to see during an economic recession. This behavior should help support the economic recovery in the very near term, even though over the medium term high unemployment will continue to be a constraint.
In this week's Economics Weekly, we examine two of the most apparent things that have been different about consumer spending during this recession compared to previous ones.
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Richard de Chazal, CFA is a London-based macroeconomist covering the U.S. economy and financial markets.