Monthly Archives: September 2014

Maine’s personal income growth for second quarter on par with New England, Nation

THE Bureau of Economic Analysis released State Quarterly Personal Income figures for the second quarter of this year.  Maine’s personal income grew from the first quarter to the second of this year by 1.5%, with net earnings* (0.8 percentage points), dividends, interest, and rents (0.3 pp), and transfer receipts** (0.4 pp) making up that increase. […]

Lies, Damned Lies, and Maine’s Unemployment Rate

THERE’S been much debate about the state’s economy and labor market.  While both continue to improve following the depths of the recession, some have suggested that the labor market is struggling as evidenced by the state’s slow growth rates relative to the rest of the nation.  However, this argument is flawed because the state-to-state or […]

Maine’s Coincident Index for August shows economy continuing to improve

From the Philadelphia Fed: The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia has released the coincident indexes for the 50 states for Augsut 2014. In the past month, the indexes increased in 39 states, decreased in six, and remained stable in five, for a one-month diffusion index of 72. Over the past three months, the indexes increased in 47 states, […]

On Ending Economic Bidding Wars Among the States

AS reported by the LA Times, a four state bidding war for Tesla’s battery plant was finally settled earlier this month, with Nevada ‘winning’ the bid.  In exchange for the electric car maker’s roughly 6,500 jobs, Nevada’s bid included: Tesla will get more than $1.25 billion in tax breaks and other incentives.  That includes up […]

According to the NYT, to boost incomes, the U.S. should be more like Russia, less like Germany

AS noted here yesterday, the statistics thrown around by those concerned that a workforce is lagging in education are sometimes misleading.  In the case of my post yesterday, newly appointed UMaine President Sue Hunter made some curious remarks: A part of it is when you look at educational attainment in New England … the rate […]

Degree Inflation and Amy Volk makes too much sense

FROM a recent BDN piece (my emphasis): UMaine President Sue Hunter, who was appointed in June, spoke recently with the Bangor Daily News about her goals, the challenges the university faces and the role the university should play in the state’s economic future. . . .  A part of it is when you look at educational attainment […]

Is the economy in worse shape than the Obama defenders suggest? Um, yes.

YESTERDAY on Twitter, economist Justin Wolfers, whose wife is on President Obama’s Council of Economic Advisers, tweeted out the following: Bottom line: Demographics are driving labor force participation rate down. It’s here to stay. Get used to it. #BPEA pic.twitter.com/bGrtfvNfyw — Justin Wolfers (@JustinWolfers) September 12, 2014 That post was a follow up to a post […]