Not only are more American families in debt, but the median value of the debt more than doubled between 1989 and 2004. Credit cards and payday loans are two of the favorite tools for digging the hole deeper.

Oil can be derived from oil sands and oil shale, but the job is both economically and environmentally costly. How high must the price of oil be in order to make these alternatives cost-effective?

Satisfying a need to get out in the field, some economists are studying sports. Their topics have included racism in the NBA, coaches' maximization of their chances of winning, and the direction that soccer players and goalies should move during penalty kicks.

New studies have looked at the impact of easier divorce on everything from women working outside the home to children's education to spousal violence.

Although Americans appear to be spending less time on the job than they were a hundred years ago, there's some question as to whether they have more leisure time.

The ranks of women in the workforce jumped by more than 24 percentage points between 1955 and 1999. Credit labor-saving devices at home (such as the dishwasher), the birth-control pill and the preference by some men to marry a woman who works outside the home.

If you've long suspected that the boss rewards not just hard work but good looks, you're right, based on research into the impact of beauty, weight and height on wages.

Workers are switching jobs more often than in the past. Among the reasons are changes in technology, changes in demographics and changes in such institutions as unions and international trade.