Kyla Scanlon is a financial educator, writer, and content creator known for her ability to demystify complex economic topics for a broad audience. She is particularly famous for coining the term "vibecession" to describe the disconnect between economic data and public sentiment. Her work, found across social media, her newsletter, and her book "In This Economy?: How Money and Markets Really Work," focuses on making economics more human-centric and accessible.
On the "Vibecession" and Economic Sentiment
Scanlon's most famous concept, the "vibecession," captures the feeling of economic unease even when traditional metrics look positive.
Quotes:
- "A vibecession is the idea of a disconnect between consumer sentiment and economic data. So basically, the economy is doing fine, but people are absolutely not feeling fine."[1]
- "The things to be anxious about are numerous. The geopolitical warfare. The walls of any sense of economic safety caving in. The endless political theatrics.”[2]
- "How people feel ultimately might manifest some sort of downturn... it sounds nuts like you're talking about vibes you're talking about manifestation like it sounds like astrology."[3]
- "There are reasons that people feel bad... we have a housing crisis, child care costs have gone up... elder care is $10,000 a month... education costs are sky-high."[4]
- On the evolution of the term: The "vibecession" evolved to "recognize like structural affordability issues."[4]
- "The tough part of the Vibecession conversation is that the discrepancy is so large. People feel so bad that, if we do enter a recession, they’re like, ‘What will happen?’"[5]
- "I think that when we think about vibes, it’s just like, ‘you’re just feeling a little sad today, buddy’ and it’s like so much more than that. It is neurobiology. It is psychology. It is social media. It is the mental health crisis... The loneliness crisis."[1]
Learnings:
- Feelings are Economic Data: Public perception and sentiment ("vibes") are powerful forces that can shape economic reality, not just reflect it. This idea has roots in Keynes' "animal spirits" and Soros' "reflexivity."[1]
- Structural Issues Drive the Vibes: The negative sentiment isn't just a fleeting mood. It's rooted in long-term, tangible problems like the affordability crises in housing, healthcare, and childcare.[2][4]
- Lived Experience vs. Official Data: There's often a massive gap between macroeconomic statistics (like GDP and inflation rates) and an individual's personal financial experience.[1]
- The Media and Information Landscape Matters: The way information is presented and consumed through social media and news outlets heavily influences economic "vibes," sometimes leading to widespread misconceptions.[6]
- Vibes Can Become a Self-Fulfilling Prophecy: If enough people believe the economy is bad and change their spending and investment habits, they can collectively cause the downturn they fear.[3][7]
On Economics and Financial Education
Scanlon's core mission is to make economics relatable and to empower people with financial literacy.
Quotes:
- "People are the economy. So let's make the economy about the people."[8]
- "Most economic problems are political problems at the end of the day."[9]
- "At its most basic level, economics is the study of change: how to handle change and how to predict change."[7]
- "Financial education really matters. The fact that I didn't know economics was a major until I got to college isn't something that should happen."[10]
- "The goal of the book is just to be a toolbox to understand the economy... everything that you need to know about inflation, GDP, like all the terminology."[4]
- "A lot of people think that inflation going down means that prices go down... they feel lied to."[4][6]
- "The problem with economics is that it can be very personal, and oftentimes we talk about it in pretty quantitative terms."[11]
- "You have to sort of center it on people's lived experiences so that way it all feels relatable."[8][10]
Learnings:
- Humanize Economics: Economics isn't just charts and figures; it's the story of human behavior, decisions, and emotions. Scanlon seeks to tie economics to the humanities.[9][12]
- Misinformation is a Major Risk: A lack of financial literacy makes people vulnerable to misinformation and conspiracy theories, which can lead to poor financial decisions and a distrust of legitimate sources.[13][14]
- Meet People Where They Are: To effectively educate, especially younger generations, you have to use the platforms they use, like TikTok and Instagram, even while acknowledging the platforms' flaws.[3][6][15]
- Use Analogy and Humor: Complex topics become digestible when explained through relatable analogies (like the "inflation pizza") and humor. This breaks down the intimidation factor of finance.[3][7][11]
- Lived Experience as a Teacher: Scanlon often cites her experience working at a car dealership at 19, where she saw people making life-altering financial decisions without understanding basic concepts like interest rates, as a formative experience.[10]
On Markets, Housing, and Wealth
Scanlon provides sharp analysis of how modern markets function and the challenges people face in building wealth.
Quotes:
- On wealth distribution: "The bottom 50% have all of their wealth inside of real estate, and the top 10% have their wealth inside of stocks and business ownership."[4]
- "It's very confusing to have a house be both a speculative investment and then also a place that you need to live."[4][11]
- "We have this expectation that house prices always go up but like from 1860 to 1960 home prices went up by like 0.06%."[4]
- "A lot of people think that home ownership is sort of the path to wealth... maybe it really shouldn't be."[4]
- On "excuseflation": Companies "take advantage of uncertain times as a pretext to raise prices."[7]
- On market behavior: "Markets are a profit-maximizing system. Money is not a moral compass."[2]
- On meme stocks: "It's this realization that... so much of the way the world works is now happening in places that we just don't spend time."[15]
- On generational challenges: "It's much more difficult to build the foundation of an economic life than it used to be."[15]
Learnings:
- Rethink the "American Dream": The traditional path to wealth through homeownership is increasingly difficult and may no longer be the most effective strategy. True wealth for the richest is often built through equity and business ownership.[4][11]
- The Duality of Housing is a Problem: Treating housing as both a fundamental need and a primary speculative asset creates massive affordability and economic distortion issues.[11]
- Understand the Attention Economy: The way information flows and captures attention on social media directly impacts financial markets, leading to phenomena like meme stocks and crypto pump-and-dump schemes.[3][6]
- Power Is Consolidated: In many industries, a few companies control the market, giving them significant power to set prices, which can be an amplifier of inflation.[7]
- Reality Bats Last: While narratives and vibes can dominate in the short term, economic fundamentals and reality will eventually assert themselves.[15]
On Content Creation and the Modern Information Environment
As a prominent creator, Scanlon has unique insights into the challenges and opportunities of the digital age.
Quotes:
- On why she uses social media: "It's just where younger people go to get their news."[3]
- "I understand the hypocrisy of me saying that [TikTok is not good for people]... The tough part about making social media content is you do have to go where people are."[6]
- On dealing with feedback: "A lot of the comments are personal... it's been difficult the past few months."[14]
- On her creative process: "How could I have done that better? And luckily I get another chance to try tomorrow."[14]
- On the content on TikTok: "I would say it's definitely conspiratorial. There's a lot of desire to have a scapegoat."[14]
- "You have to make it fun and entertaining... a lot of times, some elements of economics education can feel really detached from reality."[3]
- On pushing back on the attention economy: "People start to push back on short form content... and instead are like okay I'm going to take things a little slower. We'll see if that... happens."[6]
Learnings:
- Be a Responsible Creator: In a space filled with "bad actors," it's crucial to rely on credible sources and aim to provide genuine education rather than hype or scams.[3]
- Authenticity and Absurdity Work: Scanlon gained initial traction by leaning into absurdity, like dressing up as Fed Chair Jerome Powell, to make dry topics engaging.[3]
- Introversion Can Be a Strength: The nature of online creation allows for deep focus and compartmentalization, which can be an advantage.[14]
- The ROI of Platforms Varies: She has noted the differing returns on investment from various platforms, highlighting the strategic thinking required to be a modern creator.[4]
- Financial Agency is the Goal: Ultimately, the purpose of her work is to give people the tools and confidence to understand the economic systems that shape their lives and make better decisions for themselves.[8][13][16]
Sources
Kyla Scanlon's work is distributed across multiple platforms.
- Newsletter: Kyla's Newsletter on Substack
- Book: In This Economy?: How Money and Markets Really Work (Available at major booksellers).
- Social Media: You can find her content on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube under the handle @kylascan.
- Interviews and Articles:
Sources
