Speaking of the Economy

Jason Smith discussed the results of the first round of the Bank's Community Investment Training, which helps rural communities obtain funding for their economic and community development projects. He also shared his interview with one of the program's participants, Craig Sewell of the Southern Maryland Agricultural Development Commission.

Stephanie Norris and Laura Ullrich explain how an effort to make it easier for prospective college students to apply for federal financial aid has had ripple effects on enrollment at community colleges and other institutions of higher education.

Andy Bauer and Renee Haltom talk about why consumers and businesses are telling a different story about the economy than the data suggests. They also discuss how economists reconcile such differences between sentiment and data.

Borys Grochulski and Zhu Wang discuss the compensation structure of real estate agents and how that has shaped the homebuying process and the housing market in general.

Host Tim Sablik shares some of the key insights from community development experts at the Richmond Fed's fifth annual Investing in Rural America Conference.

Jason Kosakow and Adam Scavette review the economic effects of the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore on the national, regional, and local level.

Alexander Wolman discusses the Federal Reserve's establishment of an inflation target in 2012 and how that has fit within the Fed's evolving monetary policy framework.

Taylor Bennett and Kim Reed describe how community development organizations in West Virginia use land banks to bring new economic activity to abandoned property.

Daniel Weitzner, an information security expert at MIT, discusses the cyber threats to the financial services industry and the challenges of measuring and modeling those risks.

Adam Scavette and Keith Waters discuss their analysis of migration patterns in Maryland and how they might help explain a significant reduction in the state's workforce since the COVID-19 pandemic.