By Crystal Flynn

At the onset of the COVID-19 crisis, the federal government moved quickly to enact four major pieces of legislation to help offset potential economic, health and societal impacts of the global pandemic. As of Oct. 1, 2020, roughly $2.59 trillion in new budgetary resources had been made available for federal agencies.

An analysis from the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Data Lab in collaboration with the St. Louis Fed explores how supplemental funding for COVID-19 makes its way from Congress to the American public and the economy. (At the time of publication, this data analysis reflected fiscal…

By Alexander Monge-Naranjo, Qiuhan Sun

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Innovations have played significant roles in expanding global trade throughout history.
• A simple trade innovation — the shipping container — may have triggered an escalation in international trade over the past 50 years.
• Technological innovations may give the U.S. a significant advantage in global trade of services, potentially helping the country close its trade deficit.

Technological and organizational innovations have historically driven the global expansion of production and trade across countries. In this article, we visit how the global expansion of trade in the past 50 or so years has driven the behavior of the…

“High-income people, they save more, and then the return of their wealth is also higher because of high correlation with the biggest stock market participation rate,” says YiLi Chien, economist and research officer at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.

In this podcast, he talks about the that role stock market participation plays in wealth inequality.

Transcript

RC Balaban: Welcome to Timely Topics, a podcast series from the St. Louis Fed. I’m your host, RC Balaban, and today we’re continuing our miniseries on equity and equality. We’ll focus on some research discussing the role that investing, specifically investing in…

By Ryan Heinz, External Engagement Staff

Events and protests this past summer turned up the volume on national conversations about fair treatment of Black Americans, including in the workplace and the economy.

But Sydney Diavua and her colleagues already had been making sure those conversations were heard — in the Federal Reserve System and in the districts Reserve banks serve.

Diavua’s work on community development, civic participation and neighborhood revitalization has taken her all over the East Coast and overseas.

She brought that wealth of experience to the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis’ District when she returned to her…

“The quiet conversations have gotten louder,” Douglas Scarboro, regional executive of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis Memphis Branch, says of willingness to address the topic of race. Pradeep Rajendran, senior manager, hosts a casual discussion with four St. Louis Fed executives: Scarboro; Francois Henriquez, general counsel; Nikki Lanier, regional executive of the Louisville Branch; and James Price, group vice president. They talk about challenges they have faced and what organizations can do to promote diversity, equity and inclusion.

Transcript

Pradeep Rajendran: Welcome to Timely Topics from the St. Louis Fed. I’m your host, Pradeep Rajendran from the Public…

In this Women in Economics interview, Marie Mora and Lea-Rachel Kosnik discuss why having diverse perspectives at the policymaking table is essential.

Marie Mora, provost and executive vice chancellor for academic affairs at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, and Lea-Rachel Kosnik, economics professor at UMSL, have something in common — both were drawn to the field of economics because of its policymaking aspect.

In a Women in Economics Podcast Series episode (originally released in March 2020) the two women spoke about their experiences in the field of economics and their roles at the university. Mora has focused on diversity…

By Meredith Covington and Ana H. Kent

During most of the coronavirus pandemic and COVID-19 recession, women have faced higher unemployment rates than men, as the pandemic affected sectors with high shares of female workers, particularly in service professions.* Moreover, the closures of schools and day care centers and the implementation of remote learning have increased child care needs, which disparately affect working mothers. A September McKinsey study (PDF) shows that roughly a third of working mothers were considering taking a leave of absence, dropping out of the work force entirely, cutting their hours, moving to part-time or switching to…

By David Andolfatto

Key Takeaways

• Over the past 12 years, the national debt grew from $5.3 trillion to $20.5 trillion — or 400% — while national income grew only 30%.
• Many analysts and policymakers question whether high levels of debt and deficit spending are sustainable.
• Looking at the national debt from different perspectives sheds some positive light on the fiscal situation.

In the second quarter of 2008, U.S. federal debt held by the public totaled about $5.3 trillion, or 35% of gross domestic product (GDP). This figure grew to $20.5 trillion — or 105% of GDP — by the second quarter of…