Vice Index

US consumers have become event-driven in their spending. Seasonal milestones like Back-to-School, Halloween, and Black Friday are triggers for budgeted spending. The same goes for vice spending. The Vice Index dipped in October as consumers were holding back some spending ahead of the blowout...

Family Playtime Means Less Vice Time August summer vacations leave little money and opportunity to vice (yup, it’s a verb). Additionally, even more travel means even less vicing. Americans have become more focused on vacations, to the detriment of other forms of consumer spending. In...

The Vice Index has been revised and is now chained to January 2009. The data itself goes back to 1993. Vice spending is where the desire to spend meets the ability to spend. As the heart of consumer spending, vices adhere nicely to more conventional economic benchmarks like retail sales. Retail...

This article was originally published on Moneyball Economics, home of the world's most unique economic commentary. I am a gambling man – aren’t all investors? When I get invited to speak, I like to make a wager with my hosts. I bet them $1 that the first question from the...

This article was originally published on Moneyball Economics, home of the world's most unique economic commentary. Vice spending is one of the most seldom used, but surprisingly accurate leading gauges of consumer strength and the economy. Everyone knows that when consumers have more money...