New business cycle indexes for Mexico point to economic expansion

Business cycles ; Mexico

A new monthly index of the Texas business cycle

The timing, length and severity of economic recessions and expansions in a state are important to businesses seeking to set up operations or expand in those areas. Given a limited amount of data at the state level and their sometimes inconsistent movements, it is not straight forward to define a state business cycle. In this article I attempt to measure the Texas business cycle using a technique developed by Stock and Watson (1989,1991) that statistically estimates the underlying comovement in broad indicators of the state’s economy. The new Texas Coincident Index (TCI) is constructed with the Texas unemployment rate, a quarterly Real Gross State Product measure due to Berger and Phillips (1995), and a nonfarm employment series that is benchmarked quarterly and is seasonally adjusted using the two-step approach described in Berger and Phillips (1993). Use of these components and the Kalman filter, which smoothes across variables as well as over time, results in an index which is much smoother and gives clearer signals of turning points than the old TCI produced by Phillips (1988). The new TCI exhibits cyclical patterns that are highly correlated with those of employment and RGSP, and matches well with recessions and expansions that were independently identified.Index numbers (Economics)

The development and uses of regional indexes of leading economic indicators

Economic indicators ; Regional economics

Transportation infrastructure and the border economy

Trade ; Imports ; Exports ; Employment (Economic theory) ; North American Free Trade Agreement

"A step into the abyss" Transmedia in the UK Games and Television Industries

This article uses a media industries studies perspective to investigate the current state of transmedia production in the UK. Analysing the discursive statements of a range of industry participants from both UK television and games industries, the article reveals a series of contradictions and misunderstandings that may be limiting the effectiveness of multi-platform projects. By comparing overlapping discursive patterns around attitudes to risk, measures of success, authorship between the two industries, and repeated concerns over the balance of creative and commercial imperatives, the article argues that existing hierarchies of power between media industries threaten to derail future convergence

Spotlight: Farm real estate values: Texas holds steady in 2008, bucking U.S. trend

The value of Texas agricultural land has followed national trends since the early 1990s. Last year, however, the state's average price per acre remained unchanged, a sharp contrast to the nation's first decline in 17 years. Texas was one of only eight states that didn't see falling farm values in 2008.Farms - Valuation ; Agriculture - Economic aspects

Regional update : U.S. slowdown reaches Texas

Economic conditions - Texas ; Recessions

Market solutions to water allocation in Texas

San Antonio (Tex.) ; Water-supply - Texas ; Federal Reserve District, 11th

Border region makes progress in the 1990s

North American Free Trade Agreement ; Employment - Texas ; Income

Texas border benefits from retail sales to Mexican nationals

Maquiladora