MinnEcon Blog

The worst recession in decades ended the illusion that Americans were managing debt wisely. IOUs worked fine when people had jobs. Not so much now. So is our love of high leverage over? We don’t know that yet, but it’s pretty clear we’re pulling back. New data from Federal Reserve data show a big drop…
We know the cascading troubles job loss creates, how this recession has hit men especially hard in Minnesota and how that’s changing family dynamics. But it took a source in our Public Insight Network for us to understand the depth of that struggle. She told us her husband lost much of his graphic design work…
It’s spotty and anecdotal at this point, but if you’re looking for some evidence people might be willing to spend again on non-essentials, we’re hearing stuff from some antiques dealers. A source in our Public Insight Network from central Minnesota tells us she was at an antiques sale in Cambridge, MN recently and started talking…
Big Stone 75 in western Minnesota was one of the first 60 greater Minnesota projects to get federal stimulus dollars. It’s done now. What’s the payoff? The road, a key artery through Big Stone County, offers a check on the benefits of the federal stimulus plan. Some good got done. But how do we judge…
Margie Hoyt is losing a home that’s been in her family for generations because of a loan she says should never have been made. A source in our Public Insight Network who lost her job in April, Hoyt told us Thursday she has 30 days to vacate her home inMadelia and then another two weeks…
Transportation was the place where I really expected to see a clear line drawn between the federal stimulus money and thousands of new jobs. But the Minnesota job numbers aren’t coming close to what was predicted. Two paragraphs from MPR reporter Mark Zdechlik’s story today on stimulus transportation projects lay it out: Until recently, MNDOT…
For savers who stashed money away tax free for decades in an IRA or a 401(k), it can be a little grating when the IRS starts telling you to start spending it or else. But the feds are offering a break this year on Required Minimum Distributions. It’s a break I didn’t know about until…
MinnEcon@Work: A booming market for voice overs
Here’s a new, occasional feature: MinnEcon@Work — short videos of Minnesotans with cool jobs and interesting vantage points on the economy. We start with Catherine Campion, a voice over specialist who sees a growing overseas market for her talent. Campion, 37, a source in our Public Insight Network, dropped us a line a few weeks…
Two new interesting chunks on Minnesota’s housing market. Together they indicate things are improving — slowly — but that the problems are nowhere near an end. Twin Cities home prices uptick. Housing values in the Twin Cities remain among the hardest hit of the 20 cities tracked by the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices. But data…