Economy in Brief: 2008

In the wake of legislation passed in October, 2005 the rules governing the filing for bankruptcy in the United States changed dramatically. Late that year, the number of bankruptcies surged five-fold from the earlier level. The data [...]

In the wake of legislation passed in October, 2005 the rules governing the filing for bankruptcy in the United States changed dramatically. Late that year, the number of bankruptcies surged five-fold from the earlier level. The data [...]

Do higher prices for something modify behavior? Probably. Do higher relative prices affect demand for something, maybe by a lot? Yes indeed. Consumers will buy less of the affected item or service whose price is rising more than the [...]

Do higher prices for something modify behavior? Probably. Do higher relative prices affect demand for something, maybe by a lot? Yes indeed. Consumers will buy less of the affected item or service whose price is rising more than the [...]

Retail sales surged by 4% in May marking the strongest gain in 22 years. Economists’ estimates had looked for sales to drop slightly. The gain has flummoxed observers who are not quite sure what to make of the new developing trend. [...]

Japan’s all-industry index was up sharply in April and stands in the 92nd percentile of its range of values since 1993. Construction is about at weak as the all industry index is strong standing in the bottom 2% of its range. The all- [...]

The Index of General Business conditions in the manufacturing sector for June, from the Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank, slipped to -17.1 following improvement during May. A level of -10 had been expected. The Philadelphia Fed [...]

Initial unemployment insurance claims slipped to 381,000 last week from a revised 386,000 during the prior week, which was revised up slightly. Consensus expectations had been for 375,000 claims. The latest figure covers the survey [...]