The economy,
in human terms.
The stories, ideas, and everyday questions shaping our economic lives.
GDP-related price measures reflect prices associated with goods and services produced in the United States, while the CPI tracks prices urban consumers pay for a representative basket of purchases. Their coverage differs: consumer imports can affect CPI, while exports and investment production enter GDP accounting. Different baskets can therefore show different price movements without either index being wrong.
The SBA connects prospective owners with planning information, counseling through resource partners and financing pathways that may involve private lenders. Its tools can inform decisions, but they do not replace market research or guarantee capital.
Creative activity spans distinct industries, from film and broadcasting to museums and craft production. State account tables organize employment, compensation and concentration by industry, revealing mix and scale rather than a simple ranking.
The unemployment rate counts jobless people who recently searched and were available for work. When someone stops actively looking, they leave both the unemployed count and the labor force, so the rate can fall without a hiring surge. Payroll jobs, participation and the employment-population ratio measure different parts of the labor market and help put a monthly rate in context.
Startup funding can come from an owner’s resources, borrowing, investors or other arrangements. The choice turns on costs, timing, repayment capacity, control and what evidence a funder expects.
Income gaps can reflect differences in earnings, work time, household composition and the way taxes and assistance are counted. Public measures capture some parts of that picture, not every resource a family uses.
A debt chart is meaningful only when its measure, units, dates and coverage are clear. The federal debt stock accumulates across time; the deficit measures a period’s gap between spending and revenue, and neither figure alone captures economic capacity.
A satellite account reorganizes existing economic data to show activity spread across standard industries. It can trace cultural production and supporting work, while remaining an analytical view rather than a new census.
Nominal GDP values output at the prices of its period; real GDP adjusts for inflation to compare production over time. The two measures can move differently, so a growth headline needs its measure, period and reporting convention.
BLS classifies people by work, recent active job search and availability, not by whether they personally feel unemployed. These categories shape the unemployment rate and explain why some people who want work are counted outside it.
Filing status changes the income ranges taxed at each federal rate. In the IRS’s 2025 schedule, head-of-household brackets generally extend farther than single brackets, but a status change does not make all taxable income subject to one lower rate.
A base period sets an index to 100 so later levels can show relative price movement. Percent changes, calculated against the earlier index level, make comparisons meaningful across items and time.
Creative work can cross occupations, industries, products and employment arrangements, so one dataset may capture only part of it. A hypothetical photographer illustrates how statistical categories shape what researchers can see and what an arts satellite account adds.
GDP counts final output, or the value added at each stage, so the same production is not counted again when an intermediate input becomes part of a finished product.
Disinflation is a slowdown in the rate of price increases, not a return to earlier prices. A hypothetical grocery item shows how inflation, disinflation and deflation differ, while September’s CPI illustrates how a national average can move differently from individual bills.
A useful small-business plan links customer demand to competitors, prices, operating costs and funding needs. A hypothetical lunch truck shows how those assumptions can guide day-to-day choices, then change as real sales provide better evidence.
A federal deficit measures when spending exceeds revenue during a period. National debt reflects accumulated borrowing and associated interest, so one year’s surplus does not erase earlier obligations.
Income records money received over a period; wealth measures assets minus debts at a point in time. The distinction helps explain why two households with different earnings can have very different financial cushions—and why one measure cannot stand in for the other.
