How the UK’s Consumers Turned Into Savers
British households are in good shape. So what might get them spending again?
The UK consumer’s piggy bank is unusually full.
Photographer: Jennifer West/BloombergWelcome to the award-winning Money Distilled newsletter. I’m John Stepek. Every week day I look at the biggest stories in markets and economics, and explain what it all means for your money.
Yesterday, I pointed out that one reason why rising interest rates haven’t had a catastrophic or even notably detrimental impact on the economy is because, during the post-2008 period, households (and companies) were de-leveraging. In effect, they acted as though credit was tight, even though interest rates were at or near 0%.