Finance/Economy | Ipsos Ideas Spotlight

Articles Posted in Finance/Economy

Americans Focused on Unemployment and Jobs

by: Julia Clark | Finance/Economy, Global Advisor, Public Affairs, Public Opinion | May 3, 2013

The issue agenda of Americans has remained focused on unemployment/jobs over the last three years.

Although unemployment/jobs dominance has decreased recently, the top three issue concerns among Americans include unemployment/jobs (48%), healthcare (36%), and taxes (30%). April marks ‘Tax Season’ in the U.S., and this month’s report reflects this, as taxes have solidified its position as the third ranked issue, behind healthcare, in the last six months. Another recent shift is the surge in concern about crime and violence (22%) likely driven by issues surrounding the gun control debate.

Top Three Issues: Healthcare, Unemployment/jobs and Taxes

by: Mike Colledge | Finance/Economy, Global Advisor, Public Affairs, Public Opinion | Apr 26, 2013

Healthcare (41%), unemployment/jobs (39%) and taxes (30%) remain consistent as the top three issue concerns among Canadians. While trading spots periodically over the last three years, these three issues continue to occupy the top at a national level.

Americans Assess the National Economy and their Personal Finances

by: Julia Clark | Finance/Economy, Politics, Polls, Public Affairs | Mar 27, 2013

Since hitting the lowest point in mid-2009, ratings of the national and local economies have seen fitful improvement. Americans (32% very good/somewhat good) are in the lower to middle of the pack in assessing the current economic situation in their country among the 24 countries studied. This measure has improved over the last couple months.

Canadians’ Perceptions of the National Economy

by: Mike Colledge | Finance/Economy, Global Advisor, Polls, Public Affairs, Public Opinion | Mar 22, 2013

On the heels of the 2013 Federal Budget, we turn our spotlight on the economy and despite some criticism that Finance Minister Flaherty’s economic growth projections are too rosy it appears that most Canadian concur with the Minister.

Storm Clouds on the BRIC Horizon: Falling consumer optimism in Brazil, Russia, India, and China

by: Clifford Young | Finance/Economy, News, Public Affairs, Spotlight | Sep 26, 2012

The economic meltdown of late 2008 and early 2009, while global in nature, most squarely affected Europe, the United States, and more generally the industrialized world. In many of these places, consumer optimism fell between 30 and 40 points and has been very slow to recover since. Such dampened consumer enthusiasm, in turn, equated into serious household de-leveraging and reduced interest in spending on non-essentials goods and services. In contrast, this economic scenario only marginally affected consumers in emerging markets and, in particular, the BRIC countries. Indeed, at the same time the industrialized world was collapsing, consumer optimism and spending in emerging markets reached a fevered pitch. Many proclaimed a new world order with a new South-South economic axis. Within this context, most captains of multinationals had an emerging market strategy to help mitigate the uncertainties in Europe and the US.

That was then. What, though, is the state of global consumer sentiment today in 2012?

A Hangover from High-Expectations: Insights from the Latest Survey of Consumer Finances

by: Steve Kraus | Affluent, Finance/Economy | Jul 18, 2012

Last month the Federal Reserve Board released results from the latest Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF), a triennial government survey that is one of the most definitive sources of information about the financial lives of American families. Conducted in 2010, (and just now released, after two years of government number-crunching), the SCF paints a vivid portrait of how money ebbed and flowed in American lives during the turbulent decade that ushered in the new millennium: 2000-2010.