Economists are often called "the dismal scientists" and for good reason. When the economy is expanding at a rapid pace--as it is now in the Puget Sound region--they start fretting about the next recession.
Download the NewsletterVolume: 23 - Number: 4
Leading Index Title:
Special Topic Title: State and Local Finances
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People went to the polls in November with raised hopes that the election would put an end to the misery brought about by the Great Recession...But instead we may get another downturn.
Download the NewsletterVolume: 20 - Number: 4
Leading Index Title:
Special Topic Title: Estimating Population
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Economists expressed disappointment when the government announced that real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) advanced at a tepid 1.8 percent annual rate in the first quarter of 2011. And business pundits ran on about the U.S. economy adding only 54,000 jobs in May. But we should resist making too much of this.
Download the NewsletterVolume: 19 - Number: 2
Leading Index Title:
Special Topic Title: Washington Input-Output Table
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The Long Goodbye, a Robert Altman movie starring Elliot Gould as Detective Philip Marlowe, got mixed reviews. The Great Recession's version of The Long Goodbye deserves to be slammed.
Download the NewsletterVolume: 18 - Number: 4
Leading Index Title:
Special Topic Title: Washington Agriculture
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Recessions and recoveries come in all shapes and sizes. The Boeing Bust (1969-71) was a classic V-shaped recession.
Download the NewsletterVolume: 18 - Number: 2
Leading Index Title:
Special Topic Title: Federal Debt
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We can gauge a recession in several ways--the decline in real Gross Domestic Product (GDP), the number of lost jobs, and the rise in unemployment. An interesting alternative is to express it in terms of time.
Download the NewsletterVolume: 17 - Number: 2
Leading Index Title:
Special Topic Title: Washington Tax Structure
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Even forecasters on occasion hit the nail on the head. A year ago, despite concern over a sputtering U.S. economy, we said that it was "not the time to lose our good cheer."
Download the NewsletterVolume: 15 - Number: 4
Leading Index Title:
Special Topic Title: Gross Domestic Product
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Typically, it takes more than one thing to lift an economy up or drag it down. In 1997, boosted by strong national growth, a cyclical upturn at Boeing, and the dot-com boom, Puget Sound employment jumped 5.1 percent.
Download the NewsletterVolume: 13 - Number: 4
Leading Index Title:
Special Topic Title: Entrepreneurs
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Mix the expansionary phase of a business cycle with a weak dollar in a trade-dependent area and you have the makings of an economic boom. That is exactly what happened in the Puget Sound region twenty years ago.
Download the NewsletterVolume: 13 - Number: 2
Leading Index Title:
Special Topic Title: Per Capita Income
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Mercifully, the Iraqi conflict came to a quick end. However, the anticipated post-war surge in the U.S. economy has yet to materialize. Consumer and investor confidence is rising, but many economic indicators, such as industrial production and employment, are falling.
Download the NewsletterVolume: 11 - Number: 2
Leading Index Title:
Special Topic Title: NAICS
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