economy
Everything tagged economy — 7 dashboards, 4 stories, 3 episodes.
Dashboards
Rearmament: the denominator nobody quotes
The world spends less of its economy on its militaries than in any Cold War year — and the rebound since 2018 is real but starts from a record low.
Working Hours: the productivity converged, the time didn't
The rich world shortened the working year for 150 years, then the US stopped and Europe didn't. Americans now work 454 hours a year more than Germans — while producing almost exactly the same amount per hour.
The Vibecession
How much the news talked about “recession,” set against what the economy was actually doing. The gap between the two is the vibecession.
Inflation
Macro Pulse carries one inflation line. This unpacks it — headline vs core, the Fed's preferred PCE gauge, producer-price pipeline pressure, and what the bond market expects next.
Markets
Four ways the market reads the world: what stocks are worth, what money costs, what the dollar buys, and how scared everyone is.
Labor Market
The U.S. labor market beyond the headline unemployment rate: who's working, how tight the market is, the slack the headline misses, and what a paycheck actually buys.
Macro Pulse
Where the U.S. economy stands today, in four series. Updated as the data arrives; commentary refreshed when it moves.
Stories
The productivity converged. The time didn't.
The rich world shortened the working year for 150 years, then the US stopped and Europe didn't. Americans now work 454 hours a year more than Germans — and the reason isn't what almost everyone assumes.
The Vibecession
In the summer of 2022, recession was almost as big in the news as it had been when the economy actually cratered in 2020. This time, nothing broke.
What the unemployment rate doesn't say
By the headline measure, the U.S. labor market in 2026 looks fully healed. The series underneath tell a more textured story.
COVID through the FRED lens
Eight weeks in 2020, every dial on the dashboard moved at once. Five years on, none of the lines are where they were in February.
Episodes
The Vibecession: When the Alarm Rang and Nothing Broke
In the summer of 2022, recession was almost as big in the news as it had been when the economy actually cratered in 2020. This time, nothing broke.
What the Unemployment Rate Doesn't Say
By the headline measure, the U.S. labor market in 2026 looks fully healed. The series underneath tell a more textured story.
COVID through the FRED lens: the return that never came
Eight weeks in 2020, every dial on the dashboard moved at once. Five years on, none of the lines are where they were in February.