The great moderation: Volatile headlines vs the steady reality

"You say the economy is doing well, so why is the stock market always falling?" This question was fired at me, somewhat aggressively, by an ageing relative whom I cannot answer back in the same tone. When I dug into her reasons for thinking that the stock market was always falling, it turned out that, based on her information inputs, this was the correct conclusion to draw. You see, she has no interest in investments and, indeed, no need for any such interest because others in her family take care of all financial matters. The only financial news she sees are the headlines that Google puts on the news notifications feature of her phone. These headlines always appear only when the markets have fallen sharply, although I'm not sure whether this choice is algorithmic or some editorial selection. What is undoubtedly true is that outside the financial newspapers and websites, the stock markets make it to the headlines only when there is a sharp one-day drop of the main