Why Americans Don't Believe the Good Economic News | The Professor Is In

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Unemployment is low, inflation has cooled, and by most hard numbers the economy is doing okay — yet Americans sound miserable. Consumer sentiment this summer sat at 52, roughly where it was in May 1980, when unemployment was nearly twice as high and inflation was running around 14%. Justin Wolfers thinks he's cracked the puzzle: the 30-point gap between how you feel and how the economy is actually performing lines up almost exactly with how little Americans trust the people running economic policy right now.In this office-hours episode, producer Augusta Chapman tries to poke holes in that story, and Justin defends it. Does the gloom cause the distrust, or the other way around? Does…