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MinnEcon Blog

Are you spending less and saving more? National data say yes

Save or spend? It’s one of our favorite issues here at MinnEcon. I believe this recession is shifting American saving and spending patterns permanently away from consumption and toward savings. The latest evidence? Numbers released today from the Commerce Department. Highlights: Personal saving as a percentage of disposable personal income was 5.7 percent in April,…
by Paul Tosto

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Is college worth the money?

Is higher education the next financial bubble ready to burst? Tuition and fees at community colleges in Minnesota and Wisconsin are among the highest of any state in the nation. And tuition hikes at Minnesota public colleges are running a lot faster than income growth in this decade. There are lots of different explanations for…
by Paul Tosto

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1st Q Gross Domestic Product: No sign of recovery yet

Hopes that an economic upswing was just around the corner took a hit this morning as the Commerce Department reported a 6.1 percent decline in the nation’s economy during the first quarter of 2009. It was a steeper drop than what forecasters expected. It is a first look subject to revision. And the stock market…
by Paul Tosto

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MinnEcon indicator: Library computer use morphs in a tough economy

MinnEcon indicator: Library computer use morphs in a tough economy

Unemployment in Wadena County, Minn., typically runs in cycles — up in cold months down in warm. But this recession is altering a lot of patterns and Wadena’s jobless rate isn’t falling the way it has in the past, hitting 13.6 percent in March, the highest in two decades Wadena, in north central Minnesota, caught…
by Paul Tosto

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Wadena County’s recession, by the numbers

I posted earlier today on the recession’s impact from the vantage point of a librarian assistant in Wadena, Minn., who’s seen the library’s Internet use morph from kids chatting and playing games to adults searching for jobs. But unemployment — 11 percent in April and 13.6 percent in March — is only a piece of…
by Paul Tosto

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MinnEcon Indicator: Tough economy boosts child support cases

Employment, personal income, consumer confidence. Those are our common gauges of economic health. But how about child support cases? You might not have thought of that one. My MPR colleague Sasha Aslanian produced a story recently showing how the tough economy has sent the number of child support cases skyrocketing in Minnesota. It’s an issue…
by Paul Tosto

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Twin Cities home market improving or still declining?

We’ve seen signs the past couple months the Twin Cities housing market is starting to drag itself back to its feet. But new data released today from the respected S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices suggests it’s no time for high-fives. Home values here are still on the slide. The Cities showed a record monthly decline of…
by Paul Tosto

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Leveling with your kids about tough economic times: How’s it done?

My dad lost his job for several weeks when I was little. I found this out years later. Didn’t strike me then that anything was wrong. Dad was just home. My parents didn’t talk about the financial hit they faced. Hiding hardship these days is nearly impossible for some families in this economy. At some…
by Paul Tosto

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Slower economy, less garbage? Looks like it

I posted a story recently from a Public Insight Network source who told us she and her husband were planning to get rid of their trash pickup, in part, to save money in this economy. The question surfaced: Do we chuck less garbage in a recession? At that point, I was armed only with a…
by Paul Tosto

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Should Congress tighten down on credit card companies?

Minnesotans in our Public Insight Network were more than willing to sound off when we asked about their credit cards. Most felt like the companies were kicking them in the shins on rates and credit lines. But that was a couple months ago and, really, would anything change? Maybe. The grumbling over cards and rates…
by Paul Tosto

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