If young people are not taught an accurate account of how we came to be segregated, their generation will have little chance of doing a better job of desegregating than the previous ones. —Richard Rothstein1

In the 1930s, the Home Owners' Loan Corporation (HOLC) drew maps of residential neighborhoods across the United States. The maps classified each neighborhood into one of five categories, from least to most likely to default on a mortgage loan. In those maps, the neighborhoods most likely to default were shaded red and over time these neighborhoods had the largest concentrations of African Americans. Because the lending classifications determined individual access to credit, the residents of redlined neighborhoods paid high interest rates and had a hard time becoming homeowners and keeping their homes in good condition. From 1968 to 1974, Congress passed several federal laws and policies preventing lending discrimination by race and gender, and...

Per capita income in many nations in sub-Saharan Africa is much smaller than that of the U.S., according to data from the World Bank. Can industrialization spur economic growth in this region?

In a recent Regional Economist article, economist and Assistant Vice President Yi Wen and Research Associate Iris Arbogast, examined why poorer countries have had difficulties industrializing and also offered some insights into how sub-Saharan Africa can be successful with this type of development.

The Research Division hosts a free biennial conference to address the challenges of economic information. The event brings together experts to share their experiences at the frontier of economic data and information, discuss problems and potential solutions, and identify ways to improve access to and understanding of economic information.

The aim of this event is to provide librarians and other information professionals with the knowledge, competence, and enthusiasm to disseminate economic information expertise to their respective audiences.

For 2021, Beyond the Numbers will consist of four online presentations from a variety of experts in economic data and information. 

Visit the event webpage for more details and to register. Contact the organizing committee at: Research.Event.Services@stls.frb.org

Beyond the Numbers is coordinated by our Research Information Services staff.

The FRED Blog has discussed the growing share of personal spending on recreation. But where, precisely, are households spending their leisure time?

FRED data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Industry Productivity release can show us a few things: The FRED graph above plots inflation-adjusted business activity, or real output, for five different industries in the amusement, gambling, and recreation industry subsector. The BLS reports output as an index value, which is set at 100 in 2007; so, the slopes of the lines represent the rate of output growth in each industry relative to that year.

Want a quick way to keep up with what's new and noteworthy at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, part of our nation's central bank?

Subscribe to our e-newsletter to see a sample of what we do: videos, podcasts, essays, infographics and more—on everything from academic research on the economy to practical lessons on personal finance, from community development efforts to conferences about community banking.

We won't overwhelm you – we'll give you just a handful of notes in each issue, and you can decide whether to follow the links for "the full story."

By Aine Ackley, Intern

Often people imagine that an economics degree is all numbers and stats, and that it usually leads to a Ph.D. and then to jobs like becoming a research economist or professor. However, that is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to economics. Graduates with economics degrees certainly do go on to become economists and professors. But they also work on Wall Street, lead companies and spearhead work on important social issues.

Have you ever wondered how you could use an economics degree?

Economics coursework is rigorous, but the degree can be worth all the studying. The typical starting salary for those who majored in applied economics and management was $58,900, according to the American Economic Association’s website, which cited data from a 2019 Payscale.com report. This suggests that economics majors have a bright future ahead of them, but what kinds of careers can they pursue with their degrees?

Opportunities for...

Potential output is an estimate of what the economy could produce. Actual output is what the economy does produce. If actual is below potential a negative output gap there is “slack” in the economy. If actual is above potential—a positive output gap—resources are fully employed, or perhaps overutilized. The May 2021 issue of Page One Economics® explains how the output gap is useful for checking the health of the economy. It also points out how errors in the estimation of potential real GDP can reduce the effectiveness of policy.

By Aine Ackley, Intern

Often people imagine that an economics degree is all numbers and stats, and that it usually leads to a Ph.D. and then to jobs like becoming a research economist or professor. However, that is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to economics. Graduates with economics degrees certainly do go on to become economists and professors. But they also work on Wall Street, lead companies and spearhead work on important social issues.

Have you ever wondered how you could use an economics degree?

Economics coursework is rigorous, but the degree can be worth all the studying. The typical starting salary for those who majored in applied economics and management was $58,900, according to the American Economic Association’s website, which cited data from a 2019 Payscale.com report. This suggests that economics majors have a bright future ahead of them, but what kinds of careers can they pursue with their degrees?

Opportunities for...

The Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) program extended unemployment insurance (UI) to some workers not typically covered by state unemployment programs. These workers include the self-employed, independent contractors, workers with reduced hours, workers not working due to health or family care responsibilities, and workers with too little earnings in prior quarters to qualify for regular state programs.

Since its enactment in the spring of 2020, the PUA program has become an important part of the current UI landscape. States reported over 530 million weeks of claims through the end of May 2021. At the end of May 2021, over 40 percent of all UI claims were in the PUA program.1

I provide evidence that recipients of PUA UI benefits filed claims for a longer average duration than recipients of regular and extended UI benefits.2 This finding suggests the presence of the PUA program has slowed the decline in unemployment claims during the recovery. Why PUA...

By Nathan Jefferson, Associate Economist

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought unprecedented economic disruptions to the global economy, but the effects on consumer income and spending haven’t been quite as straightforward as they may seem, especially in terms of tourism and travel.

Expanded unemployment insurance benefits and three rounds of stimulus payments equaling over $800 billion through May 2021 helped prop up household incomes. And with large portions of the U.S. economy shut down or operating under capacity, the personal savings rate reached record highs.

As economic activity has picked up and conditions have begun to improve, consumers have shown more willingness to spend. Some of this is visible in the personal saving rate, which was down to 9.4% in June—the lowest since the beginning of the pandemic, though still well above February 2020’s 8.3%. Surveys of consumer sentiment also show a marked uptick.

By Michael McCracken, Economist; Aaron Amburgey, Research Associate

Once a month, policymakers, economists and investors tune in to learn the latest value of consumer price index (CPI) inflation—commonly referred to as headline inflation. There are some prices—such as the price of gas and common grocery items—for which changes attract similar, albeit less attention. Besides these select measures, it is very infrequent that you hear about the most recent change in the specific price of something like “footwear” or “public transportation.” In this blog post, we take a closer look at the prices of a variety of goods and services, with a focus on series with low volatility, or “sticky prices.”

The Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) program extended unemployment insurance (UI) to some workers not typically covered by state unemployment programs. These workers include the self-employed, independent contractors, workers with reduced hours, workers not working due to health or family care responsibilities, and workers with too little earnings in prior quarters to qualify for regular state programs.

Since its enactment in the spring of 2020, the PUA program has become an important part of the current UI landscape. States reported over 530 million weeks of claims through the end of May 2021. At the end of May 2021, over 40 percent of all UI claims were in the PUA program.1

I provide evidence that recipients of PUA UI benefits filed claims for a longer average duration than recipients of regular and extended UI benefits.2 This finding suggests the presence of the PUA program has slowed the decline in unemployment claims during the recovery. Why PUA...

By Lowell R. Ricketts, Data Scientist, Institute for Economic Equity

The Great Recession, which occurred from December 2007 to June 2009, was marked by widespread wealth destruction, especially corporate equities and home equity—the latter marked by pronounced inequities by race and ethnicity. In stark contrast, average wealth outcomes among white, Black and Hispanic households hit record highs during the recovery from the COVID-19 recession, which occurred from February to April 2020. It is important to note that these averages are more responsive to the high wealth holdings of the very rich, so these results may not characterize the typical household’s experience. Indeed, given that Black and Hispanic families have borne the brunt of pandemic hardship in many ways, these average outcomes may obscure declining wealth for a relatively large share of families. While average wealth grew across these racial and ethnic groups, the source and magnitude of that growth...

By Lindsay Jones, Economic Editor

When you see the name ALFRED, does the butler in “Batman” immediately spring to mind? Like the fictional character in the storied superhero franchise, the Federal Reserve’s ALFRED provides a service. But unlike Bruce Wayne’s longtime friend and mentor, this ALFRED is a database containing more than 815,000 data series.

ALFRED (for ArchivaL Federal Reserve Economic Data) launched in 2006 as a companion to its older sibling, FRED, the St. Louis Fed’s signature economic database, according to an April 2021 FRED Blog post. While 30-year-old FRED aggregates the latest data releases from sources such as the U.S. bureaus of Labor Statistics, Economic Analysis and Census, 15-year-old ALFRED captures vintage versions of these data as FRED replaces them with the latest numbers. Research Division analysts keep track of scheduled and unscheduled data releases, and ALFRED is typically updated within one business day, according to the...

By Michael McCracken, Economist; Aaron Amburgey, Research Associate

Once a month, policymakers, economists and investors tune in to learn the latest value of consumer price index (CPI) inflation—commonly referred to as headline inflation. There are some prices—such as the price of gas and common grocery items—for which changes attract similar, albeit less attention. Besides these select measures, it is very infrequent that you hear about the most recent change in the specific price of something like “footwear” or “public transportation.” In this blog post, we take a closer look at the prices of a variety of goods and services, with a focus on series with low volatility, or “sticky prices.”

The Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) program extended unemployment insurance (UI) to some workers not typically covered by state unemployment programs. These workers include the self-employed, independent contractors, workers with reduced hours, workers not working due to health or family care responsibilities, and workers with too little earnings in prior quarters to qualify for regular state programs.

Since its enactment in the spring of 2020, the PUA program has become an important part of the current UI landscape. States reported over 530 million weeks of claims through the end of May 2021. At the end of May 2021, over 40 percent of all UI claims were in the PUA program.1

I provide evidence that recipients of PUA UI benefits filed claims for a longer average duration than recipients of regular and extended UI benefits.2 This finding suggests the presence of the PUA program has slowed the decline in unemployment claims during the recovery. Why PUA...