The Power of Anecdotal Data

We know that many individuals, families, and communities face systemic barriers to economic prosperity—particularly historically underserved communities and people of color. The Atlanta Fed has made improving economic mobility and resilience a guiding principle, prioritizing listening, learning, researching, educating, convening, and collaborating with those who can take action to create a more inclusive and resilient economy.2 A key component of the Atlanta Fed's work is gaining a holistic understanding of economic conditions in the Southeast. Traditional, quantitative measures of economic health like the unemployment rate and consumer price index are a critical piece of this puzzle. However, we also know that aggregated data doesn't always capture the full picture of what is happening on the ground. Without digging into the narrative behind the numbers, it can be difficult to tease out how particular segments of the economy are responding to changing conditions. It is sometimes through anecdotal data that we hear conditions are getting better or worse before such realities reveal themselves in the economic data.