jobs and employment	253
economics	191
education	174
state and local government	168
economic development	166
indiana	152
taxes	134
budget and spending	129
workforce and human capital	127
law and public policy	124

CBER Weekly Commentaries - 2002

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2001

January 4, 2002	Writing the Script for Economic Recovery "Judging from the most recent reports on the U.S. economy, the cloud of gloom that descended over sales and profits last year has yet to break."
January 11, 2002	Indiana Economic Report Card for 2001 "A collapse in business spending and in exports, coupled with weak consumer spending, has helped produce the first recession in the U.S. economy since 1991."
January 18, 2002	Signs of a Turnaround? "There have been some hopeful signs coming out of the manufacturing sector of late, but they still fall short of constituting the much-hoped-for rebound."
January 25, 2002	Is the Well of Consumer Spending Going Dry? "Spending by consumers translates into income for businesses and workers, which those with empty order books and unused capacity desperately need."
February 1, 2002	Consumers Open Their Wallets "Just a few months of zero percent financing for new cars and trucks here in America has been enough to trigger a spending spree of unprecedented size."
February 8, 2002	Recipe for Low Price Inflation "What do you get when you mix a strong dollar, a recession, and an unexpected surplus of crude oil production? In the national economy, the result is all around us: very low rates of price inflation."
February 15, 2002	Indiana's Love-Hate Relationship With Cars "By some accounting, the importance of motor vehicle manufacturing as an employer has shrunk steadily over the last two decades."
February 22, 2002	Industrial Economy Still Pays the Bills in Indiana "For the economic slowdown that began in the fall of 2000 for the state economy has hit the bottom lines for many businesses in our state -- and their stockholders -- very hard."
March 1, 2002	Towards a Deeper Understanding of State Budget Crises "When governments, and in particular state governments, run out of tax revenues to cover their expenses, our level of scrutiny ratchets up quickly."
March 8, 2002	Recession is Over, What's Next? "The data are increasingly telling us that the overall contraction in the economy has stopped."
March 15, 2002	The Down Side of Government for Profit "The FCC of 2002 doesn't act much like a government agency anymore, and among Washington bureaucracies, it's not alone."
March 22, 2002	The Economic Impact of Inaction "The state legislature has adjourned and the first serious proposals for comprehensive tax reform in Indiana in 28 years were left lying on the table."
March 29, 2002	Have Unemployment Rates Peaked in Indiana? "The reality for most households is that this simple employment question looms largest in determining our economic well-being."
April 5, 2002	Robust Employment Growth Has Yet to Arrive "Bbusinesses nationwide are not yet contemplating the kind of expansions that fatten payrolls.
April 5, 2002	Robust Employment Growth Has Yet to Arrive "Businesses nationwide are not yet contemplating the kind of expansions that fatten payrolls."
April 12, 2002	Probing the Complexities of Indiana Manufacturing "The sluggish performance of Indiana manufacturing, in a year that saw the second-highest production total in motor vehicle industry history, has taught us that we've got to do a lot more than simply 'move the metal' to prosper as an economy."
April 19, 2002	Let's Fix What's Broken With Indiana Taxes "Let's solve the problem that ails us before we create new ones."
April 26, 2002	U.S. Economy Jumps Off the Sick Bed "The news that the national economy expanded at a robust 5.8 percent rate puts the final nail in the coffin of the short-lived 2001 recession."
May 3, 2002	Reading Between the Lines on Indiana Unemployment Rates "Unemployment rates in virtually every corner of the state fell in the month of March."
May 10, 2002	Is Inflation Getting Up Off the Mat? "Bankers and investors everywhere, and especially in the Federal Reserve, remain ever vigilant for any signs in the economy that price levels are about to accelerate."
May 17, 2002	Assessing Indiana’s Economic Status "While the national economic news paints a rosy picture for the U.S. as a whole, the widening shortfall between forecasted and realized tax collections being counted in the state house tells us that the recession is still full blown in the state of Indiana."
May 24, 2002	Health Care System Controls Disease Better Than Costs "We have created a health care system that gives many access to a higher quality and quantity of health care services than they could otherwise afford."
May 31, 2002	The Corporate Recession "The fact that all businesses, not just corporations, have had a hard time making a buck lately has reverberated throughout the entire economy."
June 7, 2002	Elevating the Indiana Budget Debate "The state's dire fiscal straits make it almost certain that some unpleasant changes to taxes and expenditures will soon be forced upon us."
June 14, 2002	Indiana's Economic Recovery is Still in the Future "The stage is set for recovery in the state's economy."
June 21, 2002	Is the Stock Market Swoon the Cure for What Ails Us? "The wobbling of stock prices, the decline of the U.S. dollar, and the increase in the price of gold are all telling us that the global love affair with the American economy is coming to an end."
June 28, 2002	A Note of Concern for the Economic Recovery "Our continued growth may depend on how well the other sectors of the economy perform when consumers hand the baton off to them."
July 5, 2002	Job Growth Would Be a Refreshing Change for the U.S. Economy "...if we could have just one of those quarter-million job growth reports of yesteryear we would practically kiss the ground."
July 12, 2002	Indiana Gets Its Tax House in Order "The list of roadblocks to business spending that are being removed is quite impressive."
July 19, 2002	The Economic Challenge for Smaller Cities "Small town America has been taking it on the chin in Indiana, much as it has throughout the country."
July 26, 2002	The Perfect Storm for Indiana Income? "Over the last year, income received by individuals has averaged a mere 1.2 percent gain, less than what it would take to keep up with inflation over the same period."
August 2, 2002	U.S. Economic Growth: Speed Bump or Course Change? "The latest news on the economy puts the once-robust recovery in serious doubt."
August 9, 2002	Rewriting Economic History "Much of what we produce in our economy, like entertainment, legal advice, or health care, can't be measured and weighed like the widgets of old economic textbooks."
August 16, 2002	Manufacturing Limps Into July "... a new spark is clearly needed before we can have any confidence that the trough of this cycle has been passed."
August 19, 2002	No Sign Yet of Recession's End in Indiana "... we must squarely face the fact that the recession of 2001 has been disproportionately harsh to the economy of the state of Indiana."
August 26, 2002	Is Consumer Spending Running Out of Gas? "... pinning the economy's future on the hope that consumers will continue to spend at full sail when income growth stagnates is not realistic."
September 6, 2002	Right Policies for the Wrong Reasons "Rarely do the turbulent waters of partisan politics part and allow meaningful changes to the cumbersome institutions and habits of our governments."
September 13, 2002	Indiana's State Budget: Calm Before the Storm? "The option of raising tax rates to finance spending growth is something that few elected officials want to talk about."
September 20, 2002	Manufacturing Economy Takes a Breather "Even with the August weakness, the performance of manufacturing thus far in 2002 has to be considered heartening."
September 27, 2002	Getting a Handle on Indiana's Low-Wage Status "In terms of employment, the higher wage industries and regions within the state have essentially stagnated over the course of the last twenty years."
October 4, 2002	Meeting Business Halfway on Ethics "... we should recognize that what is said to be ethical, and what is encouraged by the law, are often two very different things."
October 11, 2002	The Long Arm of Wall Street "The bear market, now more than two years old, has produced plenty of collateral damage, some through mechanisms we're just beginning to understand."
October 18, 2002	Economy Hitting Indiana Where It Hurts "A contraction in factory output spells trouble for the Indiana economy, the most manufacturing-intensive in the nation."
October 25, 2002	Educational Attainment Across Indiana: Feast or Famine? "When it comes to counting people with college degrees, the disparity between the have's and have-not's among Indiana counties is quite large."
November 1, 2002	Watch What Consumers Do, Not What They Say "The Bureau of Economic Analysis's report on the third quarter economy paints a picture of heavy consumer spending."
November 8, 2002	Corporate Governance Not The Only One Needing Reform "In a year that focused on the supposed drama of which party would control the House, the larger story is that for the vast majority of voters, there was no drama whatsoever."
November 15, 2002	Time for Forecasters to Show Us Their Cards "...it’s a good idea to occasionally close your office door and calmly examine the main drivers for your business"
November 22, 2002	Looking at the Full Half of the Glass "The Midwestern values of honesty and humility that permeate our state don't lend themselves very well to boasting and self-promotion."
November 29, 2002	Has Economic Recovery Arrived in Indiana? "...if data on the Indiana economy don't yet show a lot of growth, they do tell us quite convincingly that the bleeding has stopped."
December 6, 2002	There's Little Comfort in Consensus"...if the job market doesn’t show some improvement soon, the growth in income -- which provides the fuel for consumer spending -- will be seriously threatened."
December 13, 2002	Energy for the Indiana Economy"The battle to attract new investment, new jobs, and, yes, new residents is one that we cannot afford to keep losing."
December 20, 2002	A Tale of Two Economies "In a twelve month span that has seen no net job growth in the overall economy, the health services industry has added 280,000 new jobs. But that growth has not come without cost.
December 27, 2002	Crunch Time for Manufacturing Economy "After an impressive rebound from its recession low point of December 2001, factory output nationwide has slipped and stumbled since mid-summer."

Center for Business and Economic Research - Ball State University

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CBER Weekly Commentaries - 2002