What this index reads
Households type their fears before they vote with their wallets. Recession Vocabulary composites four series — explicit recession searches, layoff anxiety, credit-default attention, and unemployment queries — to read aggregate household pessimism in near-real-time.
Why this beats survey sentiment
UMich Consumer Sentiment is monthly and self-reported. This index is weekly and behavioral. Behavioral data leads stated preference by 2-6 weeks. When this index moves before UMich does, the survey is about to confirm what stewards already saw here.