For the first time in the recession, all 50 states lost jobs over the year in September, reports Lee McPheters, editor of Economy@W. P. Carey. Before the latest figures were released, North Dakota had continued to add jobs year over year, albeit at a slowing pace.

"The idea of ownership," said W. P. Carey Economics Professor William Boyes, "is that we can do anything we want with what we own as long as it does not harm anyone else or violate anyone else's property rights." By that definition, our common concept of ownership might often be called

"The recession probably ended in June, if we had to pick a date," according to Jan Hatzius, Chief U.S. Economist at Goldman Sachs. But that doesn't mean it's time to break out the champagne.

The deepest recession since World War II was caused by the collapse of the financial sector, but that disintegration is not proof that markets don't work, said Stanford economist Edward Lazear, who was chief economic advisor to former President George W. Bush.

Economists, sociologists and other observers are divided in their view of consumer spending in the post-recession era that lies (somewhere) ahead.

If you had an asset worth billions of dollars, would you give it away free? No? Would you hand it over if charging for it would clobber farmers with added expense, hobble businesses in similar fashion, boost unemployment and raise the cost of living for just about everyone?

The near-term outlook for the national economy continues to improve, but full recovery will be slow in coming, says Lee McPheters, editor of Economy@W. P. Carey. After decreasing this year, Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is expected to grow next year, but hundreds of thousands mo

Most are aware that the official unemployment rate tells only part of the story. Lee McPheters, in the lead story of the Western Blue Chip Economic Forecast, writes that the U.S.

The Phoenix area was the nation's weakest large labor market in July, according to figures recently released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Roger Myerson, a Nobel Laureate in Economics from the University of Chicago, told an audience of Chinese business executives and government officials recently that their country might do better if it liquidated some of its American investments.