Time to measure nation’s vital economic signs
On the Money From the August 3, 2007 print edition A healthy human body has certain vital signs that are essential for life. Heart rate, blood pressure, respiration and temperature are the critical indicators of survival, the vital signs. Economics and finance have vital signs of their own, called “indicators.” While almost any activity or relationship — such as the presidential approval rating versus stock prices — can be used as an indicator, the core information is collected and dispassionately provided by the U.S. Census Bureau. Although indicators often are used to build forecasts, the Census Bureau’s job is to simply collect, report and compare. Here are the 10 core indicators with their latest results: Housing starts/building permits — They provide statistics on the construction of new, privately owned residential structures in the United States. The statistics are for new housing units intended for occupancy and maintained by the occupants. The measure doesn’t include hotels, motels and group residential structures such as nursing homes and college dormitories.Housing starts in June were...
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