The Latest Breaking News from NBER

What Is the Economic Cycle? Why Is It Important?Just like nature changes throughout the seasons, an economy experiences times of growth and contraction. These intervals are known as the economic cycle, or business cycle. Trends or changes in the cycle can be determined by analyzing economic ...

CEOs like Elon Musk say remote workers are less productive. But they spend most of their "commute" time working more.

Fears of an economic downturn are once again on the rise, but what is a recession, exactly? We tackle this and other questions here.

“Are we in a recession?” seems to be the question on everyone’s minds these days. But something better to ask might be “Why is it so hard to tell if we’re in a recession, anyway?” In 2022, a litany of grim economic reports created a mountain of volatility in the…

What Was the COVID-19 Recession?According to the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), the official arbiter of recession, a sharp economic downturn coincided with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. It officially categorized the COVID-19 recession as a two-month contraction between February ...

What Are Lagging Indicators? How Do They Differ From Leading Indicators?In English, the verb “to lag” means to fall behind, and it usually appears with negative connotations. But in finance, lagging indicators are often just as important as leading indicators because they serve as confirmation that ...

North Carolina economists last week told The Charlotte Observer they’re increasingly concerned about an impending recession.

The US Commerce Department on Thursday announced that the country’s gross domestic product had fallen for the second consecutive quarter, although President Joe Biden said the economic data overall “doesn’t sound like a recession”. In most countries, two successive quarters of GDP decline qualify as a recession – but not…

"The fact-checking industry has become a partisan arbiter of political disputes," notes Phil Magness.

Economists were on high alert Thursday morning awaiting data from the U.S. Commerce Department that might shed light on whether the country is in a recession — a question with vast implications for consumers, employers and electoral politics.

The bad news will be a major blow for the Biden administration as it prepares for a tough midterm election season