Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

Here’s a roundup🔍 of the latest economic research and data from the St. Louis Fed: ➡️“Regional Trends in Inflation and Nominal Wages” — Inflation is often cited as a national number, but it can vary across the nation. Economist Maximiliano Dvorkin and co-author Cassie M. examine whether wage growth has kept up with inflation in the largest U.S. cities: https://ow.ly/cYg850Uki1u ➡️“Real-Time Insights into Consumption Growth Inequality since the Onset of COVID-19” — How has consumer spending varied among different households? Economist Juan M. Sanchez and co-author Masataka Mori group U.S. households by spending level and track their inflation-adjusted consumption since 2020: https://ow.ly/nJtk50UlcFp ➡️“Unemployment Flows and Labor Dynamics” — What employment data changes have been observed before the start of past recessions? See research and discussion from Diego Mendez-Carbajo in the FRED Blog: https://ow.ly/7bb250Uk7wV ➡️“Who Applies to and Enrolls at Selective Colleges?” — Why are high-ability, lower-income students less likely to attend a highly selective college than wealthier peers with similar ability? Economist Ricardo Marto uses SAT data and parental income to examine who is applying to, and enrolling at, top-tier U.S. schools: https://ow.ly/Es8r50UuBvU View more research at stlouisfed.org.

Happy holidays from the St. Louis Fed!

As the year comes to close, we want to introduce the key team members who made Economy Museum magic happen in 2024. Meet Abby and Liz! Abby Anderson, our museum director: • Time at the Economy Museum: Almost two years! But I have 10 years working in the Federal Reserve System. • Favorite Exhibit: The Art of Currency wall is my personal favorite, as it showcases how currency design can help protect money from counterfeiting, but also can be a celebration of the history, culture, people, and even animals, of a country. I personally love checking out the bull shark on the Costa Rican 2000-colón bill. • Favorite Moment of 2024: On a particularly rainy spring day, my colleague Liz and I got to pose with our Economy Museum ponchos on the St. Louis Fed plaza. I kept laughing because people walking by were quite confused as to what we were doing that day. Liz Senzee, our museum educator: • Time at the Economy Museum: One year! • Favorite Exhibit: The Historic Teller Room. I love the details from 1925 and the images that showcase how the St. Louis Fed is filled with people who serve the public. • Favorite Moment of 2024: I loved doing outreach with Explore St. Louis at Busch Stadium. We got to meet folks from all over and share information about our museum. We even saw some fans at the museum later that week!

One of our keynote speakers from this year’s St. Louis Fed Professors Conference, Annamaria Lusardi, recently joined us on the Teach Economics podcast series. Listen to the episode to learn about her career journey and passion for personal finance education: https://ow.ly/sJrY50UsX7K #TeachEcon #Economics #Podcast

“Meet FRED, a 33-year-old data tool from St. Louis, Mo., and the economics world’s most unlikely celebrity.” In case you missed it last week, The New York Times profiled FRED, your favorite economic data-obsessed millennial. FRED has earned legions of fans across the world and is poised to keep growing next year and beyond. https://ow.ly/aPHB50UqWj4

Young adults who are not in school or working were a recurring theme during 16 workforce-related roundtables held last year across the Fed’s Eighth District. A recent report from the St. Louis Fed’s Community Development department examines the labor market experiences of these “disconnected” young adults by geography, race, income and education, nationally and within the region. Three key findings: ✅Both in the U.S. and Eighth District, 1 in 5 young adults living in rural areas were disconnected. ✅Young Black adults had a higher rate of disconnection than their white and Hispanic counterparts. In cities, their rate was roughly double that of young white adults. ✅Young adult disconnection rates were higher in the summer months of June, July and August. Read the report to learn more. Also, check out the data in our fact sheets on disconnected young adults in Eighth District states: Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri and Tennessee: https://ow.ly/VAYy50Uqhsr #Economy #Community #EconomicDevelopment

Congratulations, Mike Kraus! A senior vice president and our chief information officer, Mike (pictured with his Information Technology teammates, second from right) was recognized by St.LouisCIO at the 2024 St. Louis #ORBIE Awards. Mike won CIO of the year in the Large Corporate category. The award is a testament to his leadership and the hard work of everyone in our IT Division. “Although my name is on the award, I accept the honor on behalf of our whole IT team at the St. Louis Fed,” he said. Read more about the award: https://ow.ly/C52A50UpsWY #StLouis #STL #314

We are excited to announce that Ali Wolf, chief economist at Zonda, will be a keynote speaker for the 2025 Women in Economics Symposium in March. She joins Brookings Institution President Cecilia Rouse, who will deliver the main keynote. Ali, who heads the economics department at Zonda, a major new home construction data company, is an expert on the housing industry and has been featured in national media, including CNBC, The Wall Street Journal, Forbes and Yahoo Finance. Register now to attend the free Women in Economics Symposium in person at the St. Louis Fed, in person at our Louisville, Ky., Branch, or virtually: https://ow.ly/pTCg50UopH0 #TeachEcon #Economy #Economics

The holidays are approaching, which for some means an uptick in spending. #Teachers, talk to your students about cash flow and expenditures using this active learning lesson from our award-winning curriculum! https://ow.ly/oOLf50Uh5ft #TeachEcon #Economy #Economics

In a Bloomberg article, St. Louis Fed economist Paulina Restrepo-Echavarria discusses how her economic research on search models can be applied to marriage. Find out more: https://lnkd.in/gj9shAxN