Entrepreneurs create economic growth in their communities by forming new firms. Each year during the past decade, more than half a million businesses were started that added new jobs in the United States. In the 1990s, during the longest economic expansion in the United States economy, the...

The rural economy was strong in 2007. Record farm incomes were fueled by rising ethanol demand and by stronger export demand, which was driven in part by a weaker dollar. Farmers used the year’s higher profits both to strengthen their financial conditions and to boost investment in land and...

Drought and a jobless recovery battered the rural economy in 2002. The worst drought since the Dust Bowl gripped many parts of rural America, leading to forest fires, livestock liquidations, short crop supplies, and a plunge in farm incomes. After a solid start, a soft period for the national...

Regions are facing rapidly evolving pressures from today’s global economy. The old rules of the game, where traditional assets such as cheap land and labor determined a region’s success or failure, no longer apply. Instead, new categories of assets are shaping economic prospects—assets...

The rural economy began 2006 facing an uncertain outlook. For two years, rural growth had been unusually strong. But rising energy prices threatened to stall the expansion. Many businesses had already been weakened by high input costs, and many households were feeling squeezed by higher costs...

The Tenth District economy continued to expand in the second quarter of 1997, but at a somewhat slower pace than early in the year. Manufacturing activity expanded modestly and the farm economy continued to improve. Energy posted further gains and construction activity rose seasonally. The...

Computer industries have been an important facet of the nation's current economic expansion. During the 1990s, the computer sector has added almost three-quarters of a million jobs across the country, creating high-paying new positions and spawning new opportunities for the American entrepreneur.

Small businesses were widely recognized in the 1980s as the driving force behind economic growth. One benchmark study estimated that small firms accounted for 80 percent of all new jobs in the nation in the late 1970s. Analysts predicted that small businesses would continue to provide most new...