Roundup: Research from Around the St. Louis Fed

Thinkstock/photovs

Today, we’re highlighting some research the St. Louis Fed has recently produced that you may have missed.

The Housing Supply Puzzle: Part 1, Divergent Markets

Homebuyers looking for lower- and middle-tier housing have been increasingly priced out of the new-home market.

The Housing Supply Puzzle: Part 2, Rental Demand

Several consecutive years of rental market strength appear to have contributed to the current housing shortage.

The Housing Supply Puzzle: Part 3, Price Gaps

Growth in the price gaps between housing tiers appears to have reduced for-sale inventories in U.S. residential markets.

Top Earners: Cross-Country Facts

The authors provide a common set of life cycle earnings statistics based on administrative data from the United States, Canada, Denmark and Sweden. They find three qualitative patterns, which are common across countries:

• First, top-earnings inequality increases over the working lifetime.
• Second, the extreme right tail of the earnings distribution becomes thicker with age over the working lifetime.
• Third, top lifetime earners exhibit dramatic earnings growth over their working lifetime.

Models of top earners should account for these three patterns and, importantly, for how they quantitatively differ across countries.

Gauging Debt Levels in the U.S. and Eighth District

The amount of consumer debt has exceeded a 2008 peak. But in inflation-adjusted terms, the current debt level is still below the peak set during the Great Recession.