Economy News

from AIER

Established 1999

New England, USA

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Daily Economy

  • Educating Students for a Changing World

    •

    Educating Students for a Changing World

    AIER continues to innovate in the sphere of economic education. This semester we are helping students gain practical economic research skills as they take applied economic research courses at two universities: the University of Sioux Falls in South Dakota, and the Missouri University of Science and Technology.

  • Mixed Signals from Today’s Durable Goods Report

    •

    Mixed Signals from Today’s Durable Goods Report

    Today’s report from the Department of Commerce on new orders and shipments of durable goods sent mixed signals on the state of the economy and outlook for third quarter GDP.

  • •

    New Home Sales Tick Upward in September

    Sales of new single-family homes rose 3.1 percent in September to a pace of 593,000 homes, from a downward revised 575,000 pace in August (see chart). Though new home sales have been trending higher since hitting a post-recession low of 270,000 in February 2011, the overall level of activity remains tepid by historical standards. Over…

  • •

    Today’s Chart: Consumer Confidence and Job Quits

    Consumers have been confident about the state of the labor market in recent months. The Conference Board, a private research organization, reported on Tuesday that more consumers feel that jobs are plentiful, as opposed to hard to get. In October, 24.3 percent of consumers responded that jobs are plentiful, in contrast to 22.1 percent of…

  • •

    Student Entrepreneurs Show the Power of Ideas

    One advantage for our economy of small businesses is that they form their own ecosystem where the best ideas can evolve and rise to the top. When allowed to robustly compete for investors and customers, many small entrepreneurs will fail. But those few that truly succeed will have products and services that meet consumer needs,…

  • •

    Social Security COLA Forecast Quoted in WSJ

    Our forecast for the 2017 Social Security cost-of-living adjustment has received widespread media attention, including this piece in The Wall Street Journal, which quotes our senior research fellow, Max Gulker. We forecasted with 90 percent confidence that when the increase is announced on Oct. 18, it will be between 0.2 percent and 0.5 percent, the…

  • •

    Ask the Economist: Hours Worked and Wage Growth

    Kevin C. Donnelly asks: “Where does the data suggest the average American is in terms of work hours a week and wage growth less inflation, and what does that mean for long-run trends?” Thanks for the question. For hours worked, there has been a long-term declining trend in the average workweek for production and nonsupervisory…

  • •

    Why It’s Hard to Rate Teacher Training Programs

    As discussed in our recent research brief, there is a continuing debate in public policy about the use of value-added measures to evaluate teachers. While the Department of Education has in many cases agreed to reduce the weight assigned to value-added measures in evaluating teachers and schools, they remain by government mandate part of the…

  • •

    Gasoline, Housing Push Up Cost of Living

    Inflation trends tend to evolve slowly, though individual components like energy prices or food prices can be volatile month to month. There are three key points to note from the September CPI report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics: First, the total CPI rose 0.3 percent for the month, led by a large 2.9 percent…

  • •

    Don’t Miss Out on Unique Charitable IRA Provision

    An annual deadline is approaching for a relatively new, popular provision of the tax code aimed at encouraging older Americans to make charitable donations. Under the provision, Americans 70 ½ and older can exclude from their taxable income up to $100,000 for “qualified charitable distributions” from their Individual Retirement Accounts. This can count toward a…

  • Educating Students for a Changing World

    •

    Educating Students for a Changing World

    AIER continues to innovate in the sphere of economic education. This semester we are helping students gain practical economic research skills as they take applied economic research courses at two universities: the University of Sioux Falls in South Dakota, and the Missouri University of Science and Technology.

  • Mixed Signals from Today’s Durable Goods Report

    •

    Mixed Signals from Today’s Durable Goods Report

    Today’s report from the Department of Commerce on new orders and shipments of durable goods sent mixed signals on the state of the economy and outlook for third quarter GDP.

  • •

    New Home Sales Tick Upward in September

    Sales of new single-family homes rose 3.1 percent in September to a pace of 593,000 homes, from a downward revised 575,000 pace in August (see chart). Though new home sales have been trending higher since hitting a post-recession low of 270,000 in February 2011, the overall level of activity remains tepid by historical standards. Over…

  • •

    Today’s Chart: Consumer Confidence and Job Quits

    Consumers have been confident about the state of the labor market in recent months. The Conference Board, a private research organization, reported on Tuesday that more consumers feel that jobs are plentiful, as opposed to hard to get. In October, 24.3 percent of consumers responded that jobs are plentiful, in contrast to 22.1 percent of…

  • •

    Student Entrepreneurs Show the Power of Ideas

    One advantage for our economy of small businesses is that they form their own ecosystem where the best ideas can evolve and rise to the top. When allowed to robustly compete for investors and customers, many small entrepreneurs will fail. But those few that truly succeed will have products and services that meet consumer needs,…

  • •

    Social Security COLA Forecast Quoted in WSJ

    Our forecast for the 2017 Social Security cost-of-living adjustment has received widespread media attention, including this piece in The Wall Street Journal, which quotes our senior research fellow, Max Gulker. We forecasted with 90 percent confidence that when the increase is announced on Oct. 18, it will be between 0.2 percent and 0.5 percent, the…

  • •

    Ask the Economist: Hours Worked and Wage Growth

    Kevin C. Donnelly asks: “Where does the data suggest the average American is in terms of work hours a week and wage growth less inflation, and what does that mean for long-run trends?” Thanks for the question. For hours worked, there has been a long-term declining trend in the average workweek for production and nonsupervisory…

  • •

    Why It’s Hard to Rate Teacher Training Programs

    As discussed in our recent research brief, there is a continuing debate in public policy about the use of value-added measures to evaluate teachers. While the Department of Education has in many cases agreed to reduce the weight assigned to value-added measures in evaluating teachers and schools, they remain by government mandate part of the…

  • •

    Gasoline, Housing Push Up Cost of Living

    Inflation trends tend to evolve slowly, though individual components like energy prices or food prices can be volatile month to month. There are three key points to note from the September CPI report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics: First, the total CPI rose 0.3 percent for the month, led by a large 2.9 percent…

  • •

    Don’t Miss Out on Unique Charitable IRA Provision

    An annual deadline is approaching for a relatively new, popular provision of the tax code aimed at encouraging older Americans to make charitable donations. Under the provision, Americans 70 ½ and older can exclude from their taxable income up to $100,000 for “qualified charitable distributions” from their Individual Retirement Accounts. This can count toward a…