Is the Fed risking a recession?
To understand what the Fed is up to, we need to look at its underlying model of inflation and how interest rate increases fit into that story.
Macro, Micro, Minnesota
Macro, Micro, Minnesota analyzes the big stories in the news through the lens of economics. It is written by College of Saint Benedict and Saint John’s University professor Louis D. Johnston.
An overlooked piece of good economic news: Minnesota incomes are rising
Minnesotans were earning more from employment and investments, and less from sources like unemployment.
The Fed is meeting to decide on interest rates. Here’s why they should ignore inflation fears.
Jobs are growing and businesses are booming. Why throw a wrench into that?
Long-term thinking is the key to Minnesota’s economic prosperity
Time and again, economic commissions have emphasized the need for long-term investments — only to be stymied by short-term thinking on the part of policymakers.
Let’s not fight the last (inflation) war
We need to diagnose today’s inflation problem correctly and not fit everything into the paradigm of the 1970s.
Canadian railroad sequel: What the failure of Canadian Pacific’s Kansas City Southern bid means for the future of Minnesota freight rail
For one thing, the state may see a lot more freight traffic.
How Minnesota companies contributed to — and benefited from — America’s push to go to the moon
Sixty years ago today, President John F. Kennedy challenged Americans to go to the moon.
How (American) Chinese cuisine gave birth to the Minnesota-invented pizza roll
A story that brings together Chinese-American restaurant food, an Italian-American entrepreneur and a Finnish-American recipe developer.
How Totino’s secured Minnesota’s slice of the frozen pizza market
At a time when frozen pizzas were starting to appear in grocery stores around the country, the Totinos thought they could differentiate their pizza with a superior tomato sauce along with higher quality meats and cheeses.
How Minnesota became an international center of food manufacturing and research
The work of a father and son — J.S. Bell and James Ford Bell — helped transform Washburn Crosby mills into food giant General Mills.
With the Canadian Pacific-Kansas City Southern railroad merger, a long chapter of Minnesota economic history comes to a close
The U.S. headquarters of the Canadian Pacific has been in Minneapolis for 120 years, after a merger with the locally grown Soo Line.
75 years after its passage, the Employment Act still shapes federal economic policy
Two Minnesotans, economist Walter Heller and Sen. Hubert Humphrey, helped determine the way the law is applied today.
What’s up with unemployment in Minnesota? The view from the May numbers
In May, Minnesota’s unemployment rate rose from 8.7 percent of the labor force to 9.9 percent of the labor force. Let’s look at what that means.
Rebuilding Lake Street: Lessons from Plymouth Avenue in 1967
After much of Plymouth Avenue was destroyed by an uprising in 1967, one Minnesota corporation committed to investing in north Minneapolis.
For unemployment during the COVID-19 pandemic, Minnesota is below average
With its diversified economy, Minnesota’s economy has once again proven to be more resilient in the face of recession than the national economy as a whole.
What ‘Econ 101’ arguments misunderstand about taxes
Yes, it’s possible to oppose Trump’s tariffs and support raising Minnesota’s gas tax.
Paper, plastic, neither, both? Assessing a grocery-bag fee in Minneapolis
A grocery bag fee probably would reduce their use — but that has some side effects.
Vice President Pence is in Minnesota Thursday to promote the administration’s income redistribution policies. (He might not frame it that way.)
Talking tariffs.
1973: The year Minnesota became above average (and stayed there)
Minnesota grew faster than the national average during the 1950s and 1960s and passed the national average in per-person income in 1973, when Gov. Wendell Anderson appeared on TIME’s cover.
