The JPMorganChase Institute turns 10: Celebrating a decade of impact

Following the 2008 financial crisis, in response to a significant gap in information about the economy available to decisionmakers in the public, private, and nonprofit sectors, JPMorganChase created the JPMorganChase Institute. Our mission was clear: to fill that gap with timely, actionable, data-driven research and insights to help these leaders navigate economic uncertainty and make better, evidence-based decisions.

Over the last decade, the Institute has played a crucial role in advancing the firm’s commitment to catalyzing broad-based economic growth. We have been a trusted partner to key policy and business leaders as they navigated significant challenges such as income and wealth inequality, a changing workforce landscape, rising healthcare costs, uncertainty in financial markets, and a global pandemic.

As we mark our 10-year anniversary in 2025, we’re celebrating the Institute’s past achievements and looking ahead to the even greater opportunities for data-driven insights to inform policies that drive growth and advance prosperity for all in years to come.

Leveraging data to navigate good and challenging times

Since its founding, the Institute has been at the forefront of providing decisionmakers with the fact base they need to address some of the most pressing economic challenges and opportunities. Through the aftermath of the Great Recession and an unprecedented global pandemic, our research helped shape key economic conversations across government, business, and nonprofit stakeholders, including by:

• Offering unique insight into household finances: Understanding household financial health is vital to assessing the state of the economy and anticipating economic downturns. Institute research has produced key insights about how individuals and households across race, gender, age, and income earn, spend, save, and manage economic shocks. These insights have helped policymakers better evaluate key issues such as the emergence of the online platform economy, the impact of unemployment insurance, how households manage student debt, and recent increases in the exposure of households to cryptocurrency and retail investor markets.
• Shedding light on the health of small businesses: As one of the only institutions with access to granular data on the finances of small business, the Institute has provided critical insights into the challenges and opportunities they face, particularly during economic downturns. By examining cash flow patterns and liquidity, this research helped shape policies that support small business growth and resilience.
• Uncovering features of the housing market: A well-functioning housing market is critical, especially as housing is a substantial asset in many household balance sheets. Institute research has equipped decisionmakers with a distinctive landscape view by linking granular housing finance outcomes with household liquidity, income, and spending. This research provided policymakers with insights on the performance of federal mortgage modification programs during the Great Recession, the importance of cash-on-hand in determining mortgage default, and the role of closing costs differences as a dimension of home affordability.
• Providing a trusted, unique fact base during uncertain times: During the COVID-19 pandemic, our proprietary data provided timely insights into household spending and liquidity, small business financial health, and the impact of government relief programs like the Paycheck Protection Program and the Advanced Child Tax Credit. This research was critical to policymakers and businesses navigating uncharted waters, helping to identify sectors most in need of support and enabling targeted interventions that maximized the impact of relief efforts.

These examples only begin to show the breadth of the Institute’s impact, and we’re excited to reflect on our work to date throughout the year, as well as explore emerging trends and opportunities to help decisionmakers anticipate and address evolving challenges.

Looking ahead: Our vision for 2025 and beyond

As workers, consumers, homeowners, business owners, and investors, Americans face a host of economic challenges in the upcoming decade. And, as we’ve seen over recent years, a mixed economic outlook has made it difficult to truly assess the health of the American economy, underscoring an urgent need for reliable, clear, and actionable data to inform decisionmaking.

As we look to the next decade, we are focused on building on our legacy of data and research innovation. In a rapidly changing world, trusted data will remain essential for understanding the financial health of households, businesses, and the broader economy.

Over the next year, we look forward to expanding our body of work to include more frequent data-driven insights and commentary about the state of the U.S. economy and new research about products and policies relevant to larger firms in the middle market. We are also excited to leverage our Zoom In partnership with Axios and the U.S. Conference of Mayors to deliver data-driven insights about how to spur broad-based economic growth in local communities.

As we celebrate this milestone, I am filled with gratitude for the dedication of our team and the trust of our partners. Here's to the next decade of impact and innovation!