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Economic Bulletin Archive

The Economic Bulletin offers snapshots of the Kansas City Fed's latest economic findings and perspectives on national economic conditions and issues related to monetary policy, industries, and markets. The publication launched in 2013 as The Macro Bulletin and became the Economic Bulletin in 2019.

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236 result(s) found


Article Title	Author(s)	Date	Type
Cost of Childcare Increasingly Weighs on Labor Force Engagement Problems attaining childcare have weighed on workers’ engagement in the labor force for some time. A few years ago, pandemic disruptions were the primary culprit in the lower consumption of childcare services. Now, the rising cost of childcare may be to blame. As wage growth moderates, higher childcare costs could place added pressure on households and cause some workers to at least partially disengage from the workforce. Labor and Demographics, Regional, Economic Bulletin, Inflation	John McCoy Expandable Row	October 9, 2024 Expandable Row	Web Page Full Text Expandable Row
Powering Up: The Surging Demand for Electricity After years of stagnant growth, U.S. electricity demand recently surged. This increase was driven in part by the commercial sector, particularly the rapid expansion of data centers and the adoption of artificial intelligence. The surge is expected to continue, signaling a shift toward a more electrified economy, with significant implications for economic competitiveness and energy infrastructure. Natural Resources and Environment, Economic Geography, Macroeconomics, Economic Bulletin	Nida Çakır Melek Alex Gallin Expandable Row	September 25, 2024 Expandable Row	Web Page Full Text Expandable Row
Why Are Multifamily Property Prices Falling? Multifamily property prices climbed to record levels in recent years amid low interest rates and surging housing demand. More recently, prices have retreated in the face of higher interest rates, slower rent growth, elevated operating expenses, and increased delivery of new units available for rent. However, the deterioration in these fundamentals does not fully explain recent property price declines, suggesting investors’ near-term outlooks have been pessimistic. Housing, Banking and Finance, Economic Bulletin	Matt Hanauer W. Blake Marsh Nicholas Sly Expandable Row	September 4, 2024 Expandable Row	Web Page Full Text Expandable Row
Considerations for the Longer-Run Maturity Composition of the Federal Reserve’s Treasury Portfolio The Federal Reserve’s Treasury portfolio is weighted toward long-duration assets, reflecting large-scale asset purchases deployed after the financial crisis and again during the pandemic. In the longer run, policymakers may prefer to return to a shorter-duration Treasury portfolio like the Fed maintained before 2008. However, the exact composition of the portfolio will depend on how policymakers balance competing considerations: policy space, interest rate risk, market neutrality, and safe-asset provision. Monetary Policy, Banking and Finance, Economic Bulletin	Rajdeep Sengupta A. Lee Smith Expandable Row	August 28, 2024 Expandable Row	Web Page Full Text Expandable Row
Data file for "Labor Shortages in the Healthcare Sector Have Eased, Which May Soften Price Pressures" Data file for "Labor Shortages in the Healthcare Sector Have Eased, Which May Soften Price Pressures" by Johannes Matschke and Emily Pollard, Economic Bulletin, August 16, 2024. Economic Bulletin, Inflation, Labor and Demographics, Macroeconomics	Emily Pollard Johannes Matschke Emily Pollard Expandable Row	August 23, 2024 Expandable Row	Full Text Expandable Row
Labor Shortages in the Healthcare Sector Have Eased, Which May Soften Price Pressures Following severe labor shortages during the post-pandemic recovery, employment and wage growth in the healthcare sector have returned to their pre-pandemic trends. The healthcare sector is labor intensive, and inflation in the sector has historically tracked wage growth. Thus, lower wage growth may limit price pressures in the healthcare sector. Labor and Demographics, Macroeconomics, Economic Bulletin, Inflation	Johannes Matschke Emily Pollard Expandable Row	August 16, 2024 Expandable Row	Web Page Full Text Expandable Row
Why Haven’t Recent Rate Increases Slowed the Economy More? Look to Unusually Low Private-Lending Spreads Despite a large and rapid increase in the policy rate since March 2022, economic activity has remained resilient. We argue that private-lending spreads—the difference between the policy rate and rates private-sector borrowers pay—are surprisingly low and a major factor for why rate hikes have not slowed the economy more. If spreads are as insensitive to rate cuts as they are to rate hikes, then they may dampen the effect of expansionary monetary policy. Monetary Policy, Banking and Finance, Economic Bulletin	Andrew Glover Johnson Oliyide Expandable Row	August 14, 2024 Expandable Row	Web Page Full Text Expandable Row
Agricultural Economic Summit Highlights Growing Connection Between Agriculture and Energy The agriculture and energy sectors have become more tightly connected as renewable energy increases demand for input crops and creates alternative income opportunities for farms. Industry experts underscored these links at the Kansas City Fed’s Agricultural Economic Summit in May. Despite some longer-run uncertainties, Summit participants expect energy investments and developments to have a significant influence on the future structure of ag and commodity markets. Natural Resources and Environment, Energy, Regional, Economic Bulletin, Agriculture	Nate Kauffman Ty Kreitman Expandable Row	August 5, 2024 Expandable Row	Web Page Full Text Expandable Row
Consumer Discretionary Sector Has Boosted Recent Regional Services Activity as Business and Professional Activity Slows The Kansas City Fed’s monthly services survey tracks business activity for a wide variety of services firms in the Tenth District. We segment the results into consumer services (both discretionary and nondiscretionary) and business and professional services and find that the consumer sector has been stronger than the business and professional sector recently, driven by discretionary services. Accordingly, consumer services firms report greater pricing power, expected wage growth, and capital expenditures. Regional, Data and Trends, Economic Bulletin	Chad Wilkerson Chase Farha Expandable Row	June 26, 2024 Expandable Row	Web Page Full Text Expandable Row
Are Firms Hoarding Cash Post-Pandemic? Cash holdings rose to record levels following the pandemic, raising concerns that firms are “hoarding” cash beyond what is needed for economic use. To investigate this claim, we examine the determinants of cash holdings at public firms pre- and post-pandemic. We find that despite significant structural changes in the economy, firms’ cash allocation incentives are mostly unchanged. Investment opportunities and profitability best explain the distribution of cash across firms today, followed by precautionary motives. Macroeconomics, Banking and Finance, Economic Bulletin	Karlye Dilts Stedman W. Blake Marsh Phillip An Expandable Row	June 25, 2024 Expandable Row	Web Page Full Text Expandable Row