Matt BrittonFounder & CEO powering AI-driven consumer insights

The Barbell Economy Reigns in 2025: Why the Middle is Disappearing**

Name: The Barbell Economy Reigns in 2025: Why the Middle is Disappearing**
Uploaded: 2025-03-10T16:36:44Z
Channel: Matt Britton
Description: Matt Britton explains the "barbell economy": in developed Western nations the middle class and mid-market offerings are eroding while consumer spending…

10 Mar 2025

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Matt Britton explains the "barbell economy": in developed Western nations the middle class and mid-market offerings are eroding while consumer spending polarizes toward low-cost/value providers (e.g., Walmart, Costco) and high-end luxury (e.g., Birkin bags, Aman resorts). The speaker argues this pattern—decline of $100-middle products in favor of $20 value items and $300+ luxury goods—appears across industries (apparel, airlines, automotive), leaving the middle increasingly desolate.

What is the barbell economy? It means right now in most developed Western nations you have a withering of the middle class. The digital divide has created a world of haves and have nots. There are tremendous winners on the value side of the equation. Companies like Walmart and Costco that went on supply chain innovation and leaning into value. The best possible product at the lowest possible cost because there's a growing amount of the population that is decidedly in the value camp. And then you have the completely other side of the equation. You have Birkin bags selling for $40,000. You have Amman Resorts charging $6,000 a night for a hotel. A boom on the luxury side. But who is not winning? Companies in the middle that sell $100 jeans. There's a tremendous amount of people that want to buy $20 jeans at Big Box retailers. And there's a growing amount of people that will buy $300 jeans at a boutique, but who isn't really looking? People who want to buy $100 jeans. And this really flows to every industry, whether it's airlines, automotive industry. Stay. The middle is becoming the most desolate place in business.