Econ70

Quality Quits

03/23/2017

In yet another sign that the labor market has largely recovered, in January 2017 the percentage of the labor force that voluntarily quit their job was 2.2%, or 3.2 million workers. That was the highest rate since September 2005, when,…

Weak Withdrawal

03/22/2017

Despite a prolonged rise in house prices, bringing them back to where they were prior to the Great Recession, mortgage equity withdrawal (MEW) is a pittance compared to a decade ago. Between 2003 and 2007, MEW averaged 7% of disposable…

Bye-bye Brent

03/21/2017

One of the most popularly traded commodities is Brent crude oil, which comes from a North Sea field. Starting in 2002, declining Brent production necessitated Brent transactions also including Forties from the UK and Oseberg from Norway. In 2007, Norwegian…

The spring home-buying season could use more homes

03/20/2017

Elliot speaks with Aaron Schrank about how consumers and homebuilders are feeling about the economy. Read more here.

Obtuse Ordering

03/20/2017

After examining the amount of physician-related spending on various tests, scans, x-rays and examinations ordered by almost 22,000 general internists and hospitalists – doctors that work exclusively in a hospital, but do no invasive procedures – over almost 500,000 distinct…

Partying Patrick’s

03/17/2017

The Friday File: 56.1% of Americans will celebrate St. Patrick’s Day, 82.5% of them will wear green, and the average amount spent to celebrate will be $38/person; $5.3 billion, equal to the GDP of Bermuda. St. Patrick’s Day is the…

Macroeconomic Microcosm

03/16/2017

16Q4 GDP growth was a perfect microcosm of US economic activity of the last several years. GDP growth was a disappointing 1.9%, albeit par for the course of late. More importantly, household consumption, 69% of GDP, grew a solid 2.97%…

Flat Farming

03/15/2017

In 2006, US net farm income was $57.7 billion. It then rose in five of the next seven years, peaking in 2013 at $123.7 billion. Since then, farm income has steadily declined, falling to $68.5 billion in 2016 and is…

Broken Brazil

03/14/2017

The worst recession in Brazil’s history is two years old. Brazil’s GDP declined 3.8% in 2015 and 3.6% in 2016, a decline totaling 7.26%. If you add Brazilian population growth during those years, per capita GDP declined by a whopping…

Meaty Manpower

03/13/2017

February’s net job growth was 235,00 and January’s number was revised up 11,000 to 238,000! The unemployment rate declined to 4.7%, the labor force grew by 340,000, Y-o-Y wage growth rose from 2.6% to 2.8%, those working part-time involuntarily declined…

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