A recent Economic Synopses essay examined U.S. business dynamism—the rates at which firms enter the market, grow and leave—and how this has changed in recent decades.

In her essay, Economist Hannah Rubinton focused on the difference in dynamism between large and small U.S. cities. She noted that U.S. business dynamism has declined since the 1980s, with smaller cities seeing a larger decrease than larger cities.

“Given that dynamism is important for productivity and economic growth, the differential changes in dynamism across cities could be important to understanding the divergence in wages and skill-composition between large and small cities,” she wrote.

FRED Blog posts have discussed patent royalties, R&D, and the balance of payments and the changing geography of U.S. innovation. Today, we tap into a recently added data set from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to discuss the distribution of patented new ideas across U.S. states.

The GeoFRED map above shows the number of patents registered in each state during 2019, which is the latest available data point as of this writing. The total number of new patents for the whole country was 186,022, and the map illustrates their uneven geographical distribution. While California recorded 50,667 patents, Maine recorded 249. That might be expected simply because the population isn’t evenly distributed across the country: For each Mainer, there are 29 Californians. But it’s not all about population.

The second graph shows the number of patents divided by the number of persons (in thousands) residing in each state in 2019. At the top of the graph is...

By William R. Emmons, Lead Economist in Supervision

The nationwide house price-to-rent ratio, a widely used measure of housing valuation that is analogous to the price-to-dividend ratio for the stock market, is at its highest level since at least 1975, as shown in the figure below. Rapid house price appreciation since last May, combined with a slowdown in rent growth, resulted in a surge in this ratio. By February 2021, the national house price-to-rent ratio had surpassed the previous peak reached in January 2006; in March 2021, the ratio was 1% higher than its level at the peak of the housing bubble. This suggests the average house now sells for quite a bit more than its “fair value,” as explained below.

While the number of Black-owned banks has been declining, growing calls for racial equity are having an impact on minority-owned depository institutions (MDIs), according to a Regional Economist article by St. Louis Fed Business Economist Eldar Beiseitov.

Like other community banks, Black-owned banks have a strong understanding of the communities they serve, and many of these banks serve low- to moderate-income communities, Beiseitov wrote. Although the number of Black-owned banks in the U.S. is small compared with the number of U.S. commercial banks, MDIs substantially affect their communities, particularly by providing mortgages and small-business loans.

Contacts reported that economic conditions have moderately improved since our previous report, although growth was robust in some sectors. Many contacts described a situation in which growth in demand for their products or services is outpacing their growth in capacity. Contacts cited product and material shortages and low staffing levels as key constraints. Many supply chain issues also stemmed from labor shortages at suppliers' facilities. Contacts remained optimistic and expect these constraints to subside beginning in the fall. On net, 48 percent of contacts expect economic conditions during the remainder of 2021 to be better or somewhat better than the same period one year ago.

Employment and Wages

Employment has increased modestly since our previous report. Contacts across industries reported hiring to meet higher demand. Many, however, noted shortages for both skilled and unskilled labor. One St. Louis job fair, held by a dozen restaurants...

By YiLi Chien, Research Officer and Economist, and Julie Bennett, Research Associate

Inflation has been one of the hottest topics in 2021 thus far. A variety of factors—including low interest rates, pent-up demand and stimulus checks—have sparked discussion about increased inflation as the U.S. prepares to transition into a post-pandemic economy.

As the COVID-19 pandemic commenced, the 12-month rate of personal consumption expenditures (PCE) inflation dipped substantially, falling from 1.8% in February 2020 to 0.5% in April 2020. Since then, the inflation rate has largely trended upward, clocking in at 2.3% for March 2021 (the most recent data published).

The prices for goods and services, however, do not all change at the same rate. In this blog post, we examine the inflationary trends of different components of the PCE price index (PCEPI) over the previous two economic expansions, as well as how each component has contributed to recent inflation...

While the number of Black-owned banks has been declining, growing calls for racial equity are having an impact on minority-owned depository institutions (MDIs), according to a Regional Economist article by St. Louis Fed Business Economist Eldar Beiseitov.

Like other community banks, Black-owned banks have a strong understanding of the communities they serve, and many of these banks serve low- to moderate-income communities, Beiseitov wrote. Although the number of Black-owned banks in the U.S. is small compared with the number of U.S. commercial banks, MDIs substantially affect their communities, particularly by providing mortgages and small-business loans.

Analyzing immigration data is one thing, but is it possible to glean how much immigrants contribute to the economy based on their educational attainment?

Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis Research Officer and economist Subhayu Bandyopadhyay and Research Associate Praew Grittayaphong explored this question in the Regional Economist article, “Educational Attainment of Immigrants at the National and Eighth District Levels.” In it, they reasoned that immigrants with higher educational levels are more likely to earn more—and pay more in taxes—while being less likely to become a fiscal burden.

The authors analyzed the foreign-born population in the U.S. and compared it with the native-born population. They looked at the data for the nation, the states of the Eighth Federal Reserve District and the District’s four largest metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs): Little Rock, Ark.; Louisville, Ky.; Memphis, Tenn.; and St. Louis.

While the number of Black-owned banks has been declining, growing calls for racial equity are having an impact on minority-owned depository institutions (MDIs), according to a Regional Economist article by St. Louis Fed Business Economist Eldar Beiseitov.

Like other community banks, Black-owned banks have a strong understanding of the communities they serve, and many of these banks serve low- to moderate-income communities, Beiseitov wrote. Although the number of Black-owned banks in the U.S. is small compared with the number of U.S. commercial banks, MDIs substantially affect their communities, particularly by providing mortgages and small-business loans.

By Ana Hernández Kent, Senior Researcher, Institute for Economic Equity; and Lowell R. Ricketts, Data Scientist, Institute for Economic Equity

In 2018, we published an essay in our Demographics of Wealth series in which we explored the impact of the Great Recession on young families. Our results showed that families headed by those born in the 1980s (referred to as “older millennials,” the youngest group we analyzed at the time) were about 34% below wealth expectations. (By “wealth expectations,” we mean a predicted level based on the wealth held by families in that generation and earlier generations at similar ages.) This led us to ponder whether older millennials would become part of an economically “lost generation.”

Today, armed with new data and a new methodology, we revisited our question. It turns out that millennials may not be as “lost” as we once thought. (Note that our data do not capture the effects of the COVID-19 recession, which could erode...

By YiLi Chien, Research Officer and Economist, and Julie Bennett, Research Associate

Inflation has been one of the hottest topics in 2021 thus far. A variety of factors—including low interest rates, pent-up demand and stimulus checks—have sparked discussion about increased inflation as the U.S. prepares to transition into a post-pandemic economy.

As the COVID-19 pandemic commenced, the 12-month rate of personal consumption expenditures (PCE) inflation dipped substantially, falling from 1.8% in February 2020 to 0.5% in April 2020. Since then, the inflation rate has largely trended upward, clocking in at 2.3% for March 2021 (the most recent data published).

The prices for goods and services, however, do not all change at the same rate. In this blog post, we examine the inflationary trends of different components of the PCE price index (PCEPI) over the previous two economic expansions, as well as how each component has contributed to recent inflation...

While the number of Black-owned banks has been declining, growing calls for racial equity are having an impact on minority-owned depository institutions (MDIs), according to a Regional Economist article by St. Louis Fed Business Economist Eldar Beiseitov.

Like other community banks, Black-owned banks have a strong understanding of the communities they serve, and many of these banks serve low- to moderate-income communities, Beiseitov wrote. Although the number of Black-owned banks in the U.S. is small compared with the number of U.S. commercial banks, MDIs substantially affect their communities, particularly by providing mortgages and small-business loans.

Analyzing immigration data is one thing, but is it possible to glean how much immigrants contribute to the economy based on their educational attainment?

Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis Research Officer and economist Subhayu Bandyopadhyay and Research Associate Praew Grittayaphong explored this question in the Regional Economist article, “Educational Attainment of Immigrants at the National and Eighth District Levels.” In it, they reasoned that immigrants with higher educational levels are more likely to earn more—and pay more in taxes—while being less likely to become a fiscal burden.

The authors analyzed the foreign-born population in the U.S. and compared it with the native-born population. They looked at the data for the nation, the states of the Eighth Federal Reserve District and the District’s four largest metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs): Little Rock, Ark.; Louisville, Ky.; Memphis, Tenn.; and St. Louis.

This video from the Explore Economics series helps kids understand what productivity is and how we can increase productivity. Kids learn that productivity is a measure of output per worker per unit of time. They learn that we can increase productivity through division of labor, investment in human capital, and using new capital resources.