The Chicago Fed's virtual event, “Charting Detroit's Fiscal Future: Challenges and Opportunities,” held on July 14, 2021, is the latest in a series of Project Hometown events aimed at identifying obstacles facing communities in the Seventh District during the pandemic. The event examined Detroit's city government financing to understand how its unique revenue structure has fared during the Covid... Read More

During the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic in the U.S., the speed with which economic activity responded to the spread of the virus and the public policy responses that followed laid bare the need for both accurate and timely measures of consumer spending. In this Chicago Fed Insights blog post, we discuss a new Chicago Fed index called CARTS and its implications f... Read More

In this Chicago Fed Insights blog post, we take a first look at the relationship between industry employment and Covid-19 vaccine take-up. As the U.S. population becomes increasingly vaccinated against Covid-19, the ongoing recovery in the labor market is expected to strengthen. In early 2020, employment was hit hardest in industries where it was either diffic... Read More

At the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, subprime auto loans appeared to be particularly vulnerable to credit quality deterioration potentially arising from pandemic-related economic hardships. For one thing, the delinquency rate on subprime auto loans had risen to a fairly high level in the years leading up to 2020, signaling that many borrowers were already un... Read More

Lately, not a day goes by without a major player in the auto industry issuing a press release that signals a shift toward electrification. According to the New York Times, as many as 100 electric vehicle (EV) models will be featured in showrooms by 2025.1 All three carmakers with historical ties to Detroit have major plans to develop more EVs. General Motors C... Read More

Following stresses in the market for U.S. Treasury securities in March 2020, several observers suggested that increased central clearing of Treasury transactions could help the market function better and called for investigating the costs and benefits of a clearing mandate. This post examines more basic questions: Would structural changes to the market be required to i... Read More

Chicago Fed staff and community leaders discussed the importance of summer jobs programs for Chicago's youth and identified ways to strengthen these organized efforts over the coming months in the virtual forum, “Brighter Prospects for Chicago's Youth: Strengthening Summer Jobs and Beyond,” on May 5, 2021. Beginning in July 2020, through Project Hometown events, the Chicago Fed has brought focus ... Read More

Minority-led businesses in Detroit—especially small businesses and microenterprises—face significant barriers in accessing capital. While these obstacles and other inequities facing people of color are longstanding in Detroit, the pandemic has worsened conditions, with many businesses either closed or on the verge of closure. To identify concrete actions to help these businesses access capital, t... Read More

The virtual event, “Advancing Household Financial Stability in Detroit,” which was held on February 2, is the latest in a series of Project Hometown events sponsored by the Chicago Fed. These events help to identify ways to meet the challenges facing our communities as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic and to create lasting solutions for equitable recovery and growth. On November 18, 2020, th... Read More

A panel of experts advocated for a range of critical actions to address the digital divide in a virtual Project Hometown event on January 28, hosted by the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. Events in this series are part of a broader effort by the Chicago Fed to help our communities overcome the challenges associated with the Covid-19 pandemic and bring about a more inclusive recovery. In opening ... Read More