How do different generations view the state of the economy?

With the economic downturn associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, optimism on the economy is the lowest it has been since the 2008 financial crisis.

Using cumulative data from the Cooperative Election Study (CES) we estimate retrospective evaluations of the economy across generational cohorts.

We find that:

• Despite Millennials’ generally more positive views on the economy since 2008, the Greatest generation and Baby Boomers evaluated the economy more positively than their younger counterparts between 2016 and 2018.
• While Millennials once again have the most positive evaluations of the economy their assessment of the economy is only moderately more optimistic than older generations.