Chart of the Week: A Tale of Two Economies

This week’s chart comes straight from the Wall Street Journal that featured the research findings of Barry Cynamon of the St. Louis Fed and Steven Fazzari of Washington University in St. Louis. In their studies, Cynamon and Fazzari found that, since 2009, “average per household spending among the top 5% of U.S. income earners—adjusting for inflation—climbed 12% through 2012, the most recent data available. Over the same period, spending by all others fell 1% per household.” In their conclusion, they argue that inequality and the associated demand drag helps explain the slow recovery.

Read the full research paper here: http://ow.ly/I9UFe