A course in regional economics often begins with a deceptively simple question: what is a region? The word is commonly used in the context of politics (the middle-east region), climate (the arctic region), and topography (the Appalachian region).
Download the NewsletterVolume: 15 - Number: 2
Leading Index Title:
Special Topic Title: Regional Forecasting
Authors:
Fed chair Ben Bernanke may not like it, but Alan Greenspan has still got it. The day after the former chief uttered the "R"word, the stock market turned south, causing a case of the jitters.
Download the NewsletterVolume: 15 - Number: 1
Leading Index Title:
Special Topic Title: Sports and the Economy
Authors:
End of year is a fitting time to sum things up. Economic statistics for 2006 have not been finalized, but so far the numbers look good. The 3.5 percent gain in Puget Sound employment, if it holds up, will be the best showing in eight years.
Download the NewsletterVolume: 14 - Number: 4
Leading Index Title:
Special Topic Title: Population Change
Authors:
When a driver taps the brakes, the car slows down but remains under control. The workings of an economy are not so simple. If the economy decelerates in response to an oil price shock, for example, the slowdown may trigger a reaction that further impedes its progress.
Download the NewsletterVolume: 14 - Number: 3
Leading Index Title:
Special Topic Title: Taxable Retail Sales
Authors:
The Puget Sound economy, slammed by two Boeing downturns and the dot-com bust, hit bottom in the second quarter of 2003...But what a difference three years make.
Download the NewsletterVolume: 14 - Number: 2
Leading Index Title:
Special Topic Title: Services
Authors:
Did Airbus really win last year's skirmish over airplane orders? Excluding cancellations and conversions, the European airplane maker claimed that it booked 1,111 firm orders, 82 more than Boeing.
Download the NewsletterVolume: 14 - Number: 1
Leading Index Title:
Special Topic Title: California
Authors:
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
Authors:
One thing about the bottom of a recession, the prospects are good. After shedding five percent of its employment during the slump, the Puget Sound region finally got things turned around in the middle of 2003.
Download the NewsletterVolume: 13 - Number: 3
Leading Index Title:
Special Topic Title: Socio-Economic Rankings
Authors:
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
Authors:
Even armed with high-powered models, economic forecasters sometimes get it wrong. The Blue Chip panel of economists failed to predict the national recession in 2001. In fact, they did not even recognize it until it was almost over. We fared no better in forecasting the collapse of the Puget Sound economy.
Download the NewsletterVolume: 13 - Number: 1
Leading Index Title:
Special Topic Title: The Leading Index
Authors:
