Recessions & Recoveries

Americans recognize stocks as the feature of the economy that's recovered the most strongly from the Great Recession. But inflation means the market's gains aren't quite as robust as they might first appear.

Survey Report The public makes sharp distinctions about which groups have benefited – and which have not – from the economic policies the government has put in place since the start of the recession. Majorities say that large banks, large corporations and the wealthy have been helped a great deal or a fair amount by […]

A majority of younger Europeans don’t feel that they can impact the world around them or their future, a stark contrast with their American counterparts.

What the dwindling youthful population of Europe believes and how their views differ from their aging and far more numerous elders may go a long way toward determining Europe’s fate.

The share of Americans who live in middle-income households has held steady since 2010 – a flat trend that might actually be good news.

Strengthening the economy has been one of the public's top priorities for the president and Congress going back even before the Great Recession. Here are key takeaways from our surveys on the state of public opinion about the economy.

The gap between America’s upper-income and middle-income families has reached its highest level on record. In 2013, the median wealth of the nation’s upper-income families ($639,400) was nearly seven times the median wealth of middle-income families ($96,500).

The median wealth of white households was 13 times the wealth of black households and 10 times that of Hispanic households in 2013, compared with eight and nine times, respectively, in 2010.

The world’s third largest economy faces long-term challenges, including pessimistic forecasts from the Japanese public, the hollowing out of Japan’s working-age population and the nation's exorbitant public debt.