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...

Ever wondered what the hooker economy has to do with the stock market? What about how marijuana use can tell us about future economic activity? Well, Andrew Zatlin, founder and CEO of Moneyball Economics, spoke on Benzinga’s #PreMarket Prep show on Wednesday about that very phenomenon....

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...

A Burst in Vice Spending Vice spending, as we know, is affected by the weather. This year it was battered by storms which rocked the US from Spring Break into early April, holding back spending until Easter. It’s fitting that the original Easter holiday was a pagan celebration of the...

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...