So I am following up my own post. A paper I am soon to present looks at fertility rates in North Dakota and how they were impacted by oil activity. My earlier post, Oil boom but no baby boom in ND, showed a lack of change in the age specific fertility rates for North Dakota over time related to the oil boom. That does not tell the whole story though. There are changes though that are important to highlight. Part of my research is an attempt to break out effects from price and quantity changes on the fertility rate in certain areas.
Continue reading Oil & Fertility in North DakotaYield Spreads and North Dakota Oil
I decided to further look at yield spreads and put a bit of a local spin on it by adding in the element of North Dakota oil production. I am trying to figure out if rates and rate movements impact the oil industry in North Dakota. The interesting thing here is that the cost structure of the firms is really different.
Continue reading Yield Spreads and North Dakota OilSorry for the lack of blogging but I was a speaker at the Minneapolis Fed Regional Economic Conditions Conference this Tuesday (link to presentations here). My slides are available from the Fed site as well. I thought I would highlight a few things that got the attention of the audience.
Employment in Williston, ND
My posting has been light, well nonexistent, as I am switching to a different web host. That should be finished soon and posting will continue. However, I looked at some labor market data for North Dakota cities and had to put together a quick post.
Williston Employment Data
The BLS data for Williston continue to tell an unfortunate story of the rapid rise in employment and, for the most part, an equally dramatic reversal. One of the most frequent questions asked about this is whether there will be a reversal of the latest trend when (if?) oil prices recover. I think the jury is out on that front.