Speaking of the Economy

Surekha Carpenter and Bethany Greene discuss the connections between the health of workers and the health of labor markets in rural communities.

For the 200th episode of Speaking of the Economy, four economists at the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond share their current research and how that work connects with the Fed's mission: Nicholas Trachter on the growth in firm size, Urvi Neelakantan on the relationship between going to college and investing in the stock market, Russell Wong on the impact of AI on employment, and Horacio Sapriza on the ability of central bank communications to stabilize financial markets.

Renee Haltom shares what the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond has learned from its business contacts and regional surveys about the impact of trade policy changes since last April. Haltom is a regional executive and vice president of sensing, engagement and publications at the Richmond Fed.

Stephanie Norris and Davy Sell review the latest results of the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond's Survey of Community College Outcomes, which examined the variety of ways that these colleges served different types of students and communities in the Fifth District as well as in five states outside of this region.

Suzanne Holland talks about the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond's recent visit to Martinsville to learn about the economic challenges and opportunities in the city and surrounding rural communities in southern Virginia. Kate Keller describes one issue in the region — the shortage of affordable housing — and the unique approach to the problem taken by her organization, the Harvest Foundation.

Zhu Wang discusses the emergence of "buy now, pay later" installment loans and shares his research on the potential impacts of this payment option on the credit risks of individuals and the stability of financial markets.

Thomas Lubik reviews how widely used macroeconomic data like GDP is compiled and updated, and how the revision process strikes a balance between decisionmakers' needs for timeliness and accuracy.

Pierre-Daniel Sarte and Sonya Waddell discuss the pricing data that the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond gathers from its monthly surveys of regional business activity and how that data can be used to inform inflation forecasts.

Andy Bauer and Amy Liu discuss the direct and spillover economic effects of the recent reductions in federal employment and spending on the District of Columbia, Maryland, and Virginia.

Zhu Wang and Russell Wong discuss the shutdown in the production of pennies in the U.S. and their research on how the penny's demise is expected to impose costs on consumers.