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Journal Article
District/State economic conditions: State economic conditions
Journal Article
District/State economic conditions : District economic overview
Journal Article
District economic overview and State economic conditions
Discussion Paper
What Businesses Are Saying: The Impact of the Conflict Has Been Limited ... For Now
Overall Momentum: Did the Conflict Cause Businesses or Consumers to Pull Back?Firms demonstrated patience amid uncertainty. Business leaders shared that increased policy uncertainty over the last year had taught them to calmly wait and see. This meant paused investments for some, as they waited to see how the conflict would impact supply chains, input costs and demand.Consumers continued to show resilience. Firms flagged a few cases of stress among middle-income consumers. Beyond that, however, firms were surprised at the lack of demand response to the conflict in the Middle East. Consumers ...
Discussion Paper
What Businesses Are Saying: Cautiously Optimistic With a Hint of Wariness
In the lead-up to the December Federal Open Market Committee cycle, we heard that the economy was chugging along with disproportionate support from high-income consumers and artificial intelligence (AI). Many firms noted they were hesitant to invest or hire too significantly going into 2026; uncertainty and costs remained too high. Consumers pushed back against price increases, squeezing margins. Labor availability was improving, but skill and geographic mismatches continued, and there were no signs that either hiring or firing would pick up soon. You can read more in December's "What ...
Discussion Paper
Why Businesses Say Tariffs Have a Delayed Effect on Inflation
Ever since new tariffs were enacted in early 2025, a key policy question has been what is the extent to which businesses will pass tariff costs through to prices, and when? The effects of a tariff are rarely straightforward, given, among other things, competitive dynamics and the challenges of implementation, but the historically large and changing nature of these tariffs have created additional levels of uncertainty over the effects.In uncertain times, anecdotal evidence from businesses can be especially insightful. We are learning how businesses are reacting to tariffs through the Richmond ...
Discussion Paper
What Businesses Are Saying: Activity Up, but Expectations Mixed
The Richmond Fed is an on-the-ground Reserve Bank. Our economic sensing team is constantly in the Fifth District, meeting with firms across industries to put together — piece by piece — a picture of where the economy stands. With the help of a robust network of business leaders willing to share what they're seeing, thinking and planning, we can get a regular pulse on the economy and check in on specific sectors as needed on an ad hoc basis.On-the-ground sensing provides critical information toward our real-time understanding of the economy. Sensing is a supplement to our in-house surveys ...
Working Paper
A literature review on the effectiveness of financial education
This survey summarizes current research on financial literacy efforts. Because most financial literacy programs are relatively new, much of the literature reviewed here is also new and part of a field that is still developing as a program of research. However, we can conclude that financial education is necessary and that many existing approaches are effective. Among the findings are that some households make mistakes with personal finance decisions; mistakes are more common for low income and less educated households; there is a causal connection between increases in financial knowledge and ...
Discussion Paper
What Businesses Are Saying: Surprisingly Solid Demand but Signs of Strain Persist
Economic sensing provides us with real-time information on business and consumer decisions. These insights help us regularly keep a pulse on the economy, and they are particularly helpful in times of economic change, such as during the conflict in the Middle East. In this post, we draw from dozens of conversations with businesses from early May to early June.