Prepaid cards were invented to solve a problem: replacing coin usage in pay telephones. Since then, prepaid cards have evolved into a huge competitive market for general-purpose reloadable (GPR) prepaid cards. Read more about GPR prepaid cards in the inaugural edition of Page One Economics Focus...

"Strong” is usually preferred over “weak.” But for the value of a country’s currency, it’s not that simple. “Strong” isn’t always better, and “weak” isn’t always worse. Learn more about foreign exchange rates in the March 2015 newsletter—“Is a Strong Dollar Better than...

Oil prices affect the U.S. economy in many ways. For example, fluctuations in the price of oil can influence inflation, unemployment, and disposable income. Some local economies with close ties to the oil industry, however, are affected even more directly in both positive and negative ways. This...

The life cycle model shows that saving for the future requires people to limit consumption during their working years and save so they will have a “nest egg” to draw on during retirement. Recent changes in how people save for retirement have shifted some responsibility from firms to individuals.

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office tackles that question in a new report and highlights the trade-off presented by increasing the minimum wage. This issue of the newsletter explains the debate and discusses whether other approaches may be more effective in helping alleviate poverty.

America is a nation of immigrants. Currently, immigrants make up about 13 percent of the overall population, which means about 40 million people living in the United States are foreign born.

How are economics and the environment related? The quick answer is that environmental quality is a worthy goal, but there is an economic trade-off -- a clean environment does not come without costs. The September 2014 Page One Economics article, "Economics and the Environment", provides some...

The cost of a college education seems to be skyrocketing—but is it really? Learn about the concept of price discrimination and how it affects college costs.

Remember when airlines started charging for checked bags? What happened to the number of checked bags after this added charge? And what happened to the availability of in-cabin storage space on planes? This month’s newsletter answers these questions and discusses the pivotal role price plays...