Economists tend to think of central-bank interest rates purely in terms of their effect on macroeconomic benchmarks such as inflation, output and unemployment. The Federal Reserve’s dual mandate, for instance, directs it to seek stable prices and maximum employment. Mainstream macroeconomic models, such as the dominant New Keynesian models used by most central banks, support this view. Occasionally, economists or ...

Once British lawmakers finally decide what kind of Brexit they want, the pound surely ought to break out of the tight range in which it has traded against the euro since Britain voted to leave the European Union (EU). Just don’t expect too sharp a collapse if it really comes to a messy, no-deal Brexit. It helps that the pound ...

The newly published 2019 US Energy & Employment Report reveals that the fuels and electric-power-generation sectors employ nearly 2 million people. It’s a wealth of data not just on what people do in energy, but also on where employers foresee growth and hiring tightness. A few trends jump out — including that, even in the oil patch, services jobs are ...