The exceptional support provided to US households is particularly evident when comparing the dynamics of GDP and disposable income (fig. 2): in 2020, just as the former recorded its sharpest collapse in real terms in the entire post-World War II period (-3.4 per cent), real disposable personal income grew by over 6 per cent, its largest rise since the mid-1980s.
In the euro area, instead, household real disposable income declined, even though by a smaller extent than GDP (-0.6 versus -6.4 per cent). Second, the different dynamics of household disposable income across the two economic areas translated into very diverse effects on demand.