July Issue of St. Louis Fed's Regional Economist Now Available

ST. LOUIS – The July 2010 issue of The Regional Economist, the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis’ quarterly review of business and economic conditions, is now available.  The issue’s feature articles include:

• “A Bleak 30 Years for Black Men: Economic Progress Was Slim in Urban America” – This article tracks the economic progress of African-American men in the United States from the years 1970-2000 on a national level.  It also examines and compares wages, annual income, educational attainment and employment status across 14 of the largest metropolitan service areas (MSAs), including the St. Louis MSA.
• “Mexico’s Oportunidades Program Fails to Make the Grade in NYC” – While a Mexico program that pays poor, rural Mexican families to keep their children in school was widely considered to be a success, a New York City program inspired by Oportunidades did not translate well and is set to end later this summer.  Comparing the two programs, though, is problematic.
• “Multinationals from Emerging Economies: Growing but Little Understood” – Increasingly, multinational companies are hailing from emerging economies. Their share of the foreign investment pie grew from 0.4 percent in 1970 to 15.8 percent in 2008. What is behind the growth? 
•  “Unconventional Oil Production: Stuck in a Rock and a Hard Place” – Oil can be derived from oil sands and oil shale, but this process is both economically and environmentally costly. How high must the price of oil be in order to make these alternatives cost-effective?
• “Flight to Safety and U.S. Treasury Securities” – As in most crises, investors turned to Treasuries in droves over the past couple of years, even as yields declined.