Personal excess savings in the U.S. reached extraordinarily high levels during the pandemic, peaking between $2.0 – $2.6 trillion in 2021. That’s equal to 10% of the nation’s gross domestic product. Economists believe these savings helped keep the economy moving during post-pandemic inflation because consumers could use that money to keep spending.

But there’s wide disagreement about how much of these excess savings is left – and what happens when it’s gone. In this episode of Six Hundred Atlantic, Boston Fed economist Omar Barbiero discusses why excess savings matter, why estimates vary widely, and what surprised him when he studied how fast savings were being depleted across income groups.