The FED Said “Nobody’s model does a very good job of how uncertainty and hits to confidence affect behavior,” says Deutsche Bank’s Peter Hooper in a recent Wall Street Journalarticle. Count us as sympathetic to his viewpoint. That’s one reason why a few of us at the Atlanta Fed created a national survey of firms in […] Read more

From the Harvard Business Review Today’s young professionals grew up in an age of mind-boggling technological change, seeing the growth of the internet, the invention of the smartphone, and the development of machine-learning systems. These advances all point toward the total automation of our lives, including the way we work and do business. It’s no […] Read more

The FED Said The new Beige Book covers some familiar themes, but also includes a few timely details that could portend future changes in certain economic sectors. Uncertainty and other effects of trade policy showed up among manufacturers and contacts in the transportation industry. Most manufacturing contacts reported increases in their costs, particularly for steel, […] Read more

The FED Said A folding placard near the Atlanta transit system’s Avondale Station makes a humble promise: “New Things Coming.” The new things are under construction—470 apartments, 34 condominiums, and street-level space for shops and restaurants. Despite the unassuming sign, this is not just another mixed-use development amid hundreds of similar projects across metropolitan Atlanta. […] Read more

The FED Said With U.S. unemployment down to levels not seen since 2000, job seekers are gaining the upper hand in the labor market as employers struggle to fill positions across skill levels. Such hiring difficulties are prompting some employers across the Southeast to raise pay. “We’ve been hearing that wage pressure is building among […] Read more

The Harvard Business Review     by Marc Freedman Judson Manor is a gracious former 1920s luxury hotel near The Cleveland Clinic, Case Western University, and many of the museums and arts institutions in Cleveland, Ohio. Today it houses 120 highly educated retirees with an average age of 79 — and seven 20-something graduate students. Back in 2010, one […] Read more

The FED Said The Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta A recent FEDS Notes article summarized some interesting findings from the Board of Governors’ 2017 Survey of Household Economics and Decisionmaking. One set of responses that caught my eye explored the connection between part-time employment and pay raises. The report estimates that about 70 percent of people working part-time did […] Read more

Knowledge@Wharton An approach to Income Inequality Trials are underway within the U.S. and elsewhere to understand the effects of cash transfer programs like universal basic income to provide people with basic sustenance — where the government sends out a regular stipend to everyone regardless of income or employment status. Interest is rising following concerns that technological […] Read more

The FED Said Overall US Economic Activity Economic activity expanded moderately in late April and early May with few shifts in the pattern of growth. The Dallas District was an exception, where overall economic activity sped up to a solid pace. Manufacturing shifted into higher gear with more than half of the Districts reporting a […] Read more

The FED Said Two-thirds of small businesses report hiring challenges. We look at the different difficulties they face and how they solve for them. Evidence from the Federal Reserve Banks’ Small Business Credit Survey Ellyn Terry and Mels de Zeeuw, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta Primary Issue Understanding the sources of mismatch between the labor […] Read more

The FED Said Firms With Natural Disaster-Related Damages Faced Insurance Mismatches and Sought Credit Financing But Struggled With Funding Gaps April 17, 2018 The Federal Reserve Banks of New York, Dallas, Richmond and San Francisco today issued the 2017 Small Business Credit Survey: Report on Disaster-Affected Firms. This is the first in a series of reports this […] Read more

Harvard Business Review When a company needs a supervisor for a team, senior leaders often anoint the team’s most productive performer. Some of these stars succeed in their new role as manager; many others do not. And when they fail, they tend to leave the organization, costing the company double: Not only has the team […] Read more

The FED Said The Atlanta Fed’s Wage Growth Tracker rose 3.3 percent in March. While this increase is up from 2.9 percent in February, the 12-month average remained at 3.2 percent, a bit lower than the 3.5 percent average we observed a year earlier. The absence of upward momentum in the overall Tracker may be a signal […] Read more

The FED Said Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta Summary of Economic Activity Sixth District business contacts indicated that economic conditions continued to improve modestly from the previous report. The majority of contacts were relatively optimistic with expectations for continued modest growth over the next three to six months. The labor market remained tight and overall […] Read more