How (if at all) did your spending change over the past year?
Consumer spending is one of the most important indicators of economic health. When we are economically healthy, we spend more, but also often spend differently both on essentials and on more fun things. In this episode, Michael Weber and Constantine Yannelis share research insights on the effect of pandemic and federal stimulus policies on spending, and what these trends tell us about an economic recovery.

How (if at all) did your spending change over the past year?

Did the pandemic make some parts of your spending more expensive? How?

Did the pandemic make some parts of your spending less expensive? How?

If it was similar to the trends in the podcast, were your reasons also similar?

Why or why not?

If it was different from the trends in the podcast, why do you think that happened?

What can we bring from thinking about these changes to improve future spending by ourselves and others?

Q2) If you had the ability to start a business, would you? what would your business do?
Making a business is a lot of people’s dreams. I personally would like to eventually start my own business, but research has thought me that it is hard to start one and even harder to prevent it from failing. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, approximately 20% of new businesses fail during the first two years of its creation, 45% fail during the first five years of its creation, 65% during the first 10 years of it’s creation, and only 25% of businesses survive 15 years or more after its creation. With these statistics in mind, would you personally still like to create a business and if so what would your business do? How do you plan on preventing your business from failing or how do you plan on maximizing the profits of your company, so you can at least make some type of financial gain?

Q3) Would it be better or worse when the kids go back to in-person school ?
As many people get Covid vaccine every day, it seems that we gradually go back to normal activities as before the pandemic. Eventually, kids will go back to school in-person. There will be different affects that it would bring. They could be better or worse. What do you think ?