Kyla Scanlon writes about the economy and how public sentiment shapes it, coining terms such as vibecession and financial nihilism.
Commenters cite her for the vibecession and financial nihilism concepts, which they say explain how people feel about the economy beyond the math.
Income inequality in the US hasn't increased since 2014 and is sharply decreased since 2019. Lower income people are making more money than ever. There was a period of no income growth for upper-middle class people, however, which probably made them unhappy.
https://www.nber.org/system/files/working_papers/w31010/w31010.pdf
What did happen in the last two years was there was a "vibecession" where everyone decided to pretend the economy was bad even though everything about it was objectively good. You can see this in surveys, because everyone answered them with "I'm personally doing well, but I know everyone else is doing badly because I heard it on the news".
First described here:
https://kyla.substack.com/p/the-vibecession-the-self-fulfilling
Note, this was written at the tail end of the inflation period and none of the predictions of bad things quoted in the article actually happened.
Of course, that's the story up to the end of 2024. All kinds of bad things can happen now - I can't tell you about the future, but the present is easier.
There has recently been many looks at the epidemic in gambling. Wonder how all of the focus seem to happen at the same time
Off the top of my head:
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-10-31/great-british-bake-off-fans-are-now-betting-on-who-ll-win-the-show
https://kyla.substack.com/p/gamblemerica-how-sports-betting-apps
https://www.ft.com/content/e80df917-2af7-4a37-b9af-55d23f941ec6
https://www.dopaminemarkets.com/p/the-lottery-fication-of-everything
https://www.investors.com/news/investing-gambling-robinhood-polymarket-kalshi-betting/
https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2025-premier-league-football-kit-sponsors/
https://www.ft.com/content/a39d0a2e-950c-4a54-b339-4784f7892720
> It’s reflective of people losing hope in the system’s ability to make their lives better.
Kyla Scanlon (?) coined the term "financial nihilism" to describe this feeling:
* https://kyla.substack.com/p/gen-z-and-financial-nihilism
She thinks it's why things like cryptocurrencies/BTC have taken off: it's a chance to 'hit the jackpot', as many folks don't see another way to (financial) success.
I've heard the term "financial nihilism":
* https://kyla.substack.com/p/gen-z-and-financial-nihilism
A lot of people don't see a bright (financial) future for themselves, and that working hard won't get them anything meaningful. So long shots are perceived the only way that you can improve your lot in life, as otherwise The System™ is stacked against you (student loans, housing costs, etc).
There's more in play here than math. An interesting idea is the concept of a "Vibecession", coined by Kyla Scanlon.
It's more a focus on how people "feel" about their situation than it is math. It's resonant to me.
https://kyla.substack.com/p/the-vibecession-the-self-fulfilling
I thought this post from Kyla Scanlon[0] did a good job of explaining that eventually the algorithms replace knowledge. Which is not a good thing.
0: https://kyla.substack.com/p/the-four-phases-of-institutional