Economy

Foreclosures and economic hardships have caused a proliferation of tent cities across the U.S.

The real estate industry has been slow to realize the development world is changing, according to Scott Polikov who writes that "the fundamentals of the 'bedroom community' economy have collapsed."

New census figures have been released, showing a rise in median household income and more people with health insurance. But experts warn that the figures do not account for the recent slump in the economy.

Thanks to industrialized agriculture, there’s a wide gulf between those who produce food and those who consume it. Too many city-dwellers lack access to nutritious, non-processed foods. Dave Steel thinks that urban agriculture is the key.

A national survey shows that despite the depression in the housing market, landscape architects across the U.S. continue to get work.

The northern California city of Vallejo has declared bankruptcy, becoming one of few cities and the largest in the state to do so. Other struggling cities are watching closely to see if the strategy helps to save the city.

While housing markets in the rest of the country reel from the mortgage crisis, Irvine, the city that was once home to 18 subprime lenders, is seeing its local economy suffer as the effects of high profile bankruptcies ripples to other businesses.

The economic slowdown has caused a slowdown in growth, even in the Salt Lake City area -- recently one of the nation's fastest growing regions. This editorial calls on officials to use the slowdown as a chance to reconsider the area's growth pattern.

J.P. Morgan's federally-back purchase of Bear Stearns holds billions in dubious "mortgage backed securities," and Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are pumping hundreds of billions into the market. Time may be running out for the Federal Reserve.

Buildings are being renovated all over downtown Washington D.C., and as they rise so does the city's tax revenue.

Robert Pollin & Heidi Garrett-Peltier writing in The Nation show that the U.S. has spent hundreds of billions of dollars in Iraq that could have been much more productively invested in public goods like sustainable infrastructure.

Housing price drops in cities like Miami have "vulture-like" buyers swooping in to snatch up properties.