A compact frame describing a post‑2020 phenomenon where objective economic indicators and headline macro data diverge from persistent negative public sentiment because social media, institutional distrust, and generational meaning‑making amplify malaise. The term captures how people interpret the same data differently and why political movements can feed off perceived decline even during modest growth.
— Naming and measuring a sentiment–data divergence matters because it explains why policy evidence sometimes fails to shift politics, why trust in institutions collapses, and how cultural narratives can produce durable redistributionary or authoritarian pressure.
Scott Alexander
2025.12.31
100% relevant
Kyla Scanlon’s comment identifying 2022 as the pivot (sentiment–data divergence) and multiple anecdotes in the comments (e.g., doomer‑cure personal stories, housing/inflation worries) provide the empirical and narrative raw material for the concept.
2025.12.30
92% relevant
The article documents a pronounced shift in popular economic sentiment — optimism hit a low while the share expecting 'about the same' rose to 41% — exactly the kind of divergence between measurable macro indicators and popular mood that the 'vibecession' concept captures; the Economist/YouGov numbers are concrete empirical evidence of that sentiment pocket.
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