Viewpoints: 2018

A number of current and former of policymakers along with other public officials and analysts have started to debate whether the 2% inflation target is still a viable policy rule. The debate is long overdue, but the trouble with this [...]

As has been the case for some months, August saw fairly widespread job gains by state, though only four of the gains (California, Texas, Arizona, and Florida) were viewed as statistically significant. 10 states, and DC, reported [...]

Ten years after the Great Financial Crisis policymakers are still debating the causes and the missed signs. Nevertheless, there is also a quiet sense of accomplishment and achievement among past and current policymakers as the [...]

Federal Reserve policymakers have clearly indicated their intentions to raise official rates by 25 basis points at the September 25-26 Federal Open Market Committee Meeting. Yet, one of the more contentious issues that may be [...]

Policymakers are increasingly relying on measures of inflation expectations in order to monitor potential changes in the inflation outlook. Yet, with general inflation steady and inflation expectations often no more than an [...]

Last Wednesday the Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank issued its estimates of state coincident activity for July. All 50 states report increases over the last 12 months; only West Virginia and Alaska showed gains under 1 percent. As [...]

At a cabinet meeting last week, White House economic advisor Mr. Larry Kudlow described the economy's performance in 2018 as a "genuine economic boom." Yet, Mr. Kudlow failed to mention that this "economic boom" is being accompanied [...]

July saw job gains in 42 states, though only 6 of those increases were deemed statistically significant by BLS, led by California’s 46,700 (0.3 percent) gain (Nevada had the largest percentage increase—0.7). It’s often the case that a [...]