Hereâ??s something that might surprise you, considering that Indiana is sometimes viewed by people outside the
state as insular and unwelcoming to strangers.
Indianapolis has a higher percentage of income earners at least age 15 who were born in another state…
Lots of people are flocking to the eight suburban counties that surround Indianapolis, a new report from
the Indianapolis Private Industry Council says.
More than 16,000 showed up in 2005 alone, said the report, which tracks the work force.
But the council…
So much for IKEA dropping one of its stores in the Indianapolis area anytime soon.
A store opening today in a Cincinnati suburb is about as close as Indianapolis is going to see, at least
for a while, IBJ Associate…
The deleveraging of America continues with unpleasant consequences for consumers and investors who are overextended. One problem with a mass deleveraging is that the repeated selling of an asset to repay a debt burden leads to further declines in the price of that asset. That, in turn, forces others to sell, as the lower asset values no longer support their debt obligations. It’s otherwise known as a vicious circle. The Federal Reserve, the U.S. Treasury and Congress are scrambling to…
Executives at locally based The Finish Line Inc. felt a weight lifted after escaping a potentially ruinous attempt to acquire Genesco Inc., a company more than twice its size. But there’s no time for rest: They now must focus on a core business that was floundering even before Finish Line bid $1.5 billion in June 2007 for the Tennessee-based parent company of mall chains Hat World, Lids and Journeys. Finish Line this month reported its eighth consecutive quarter with declining…
March Madness is upon us-that glorious season born in a Springfield, Mass., peach basket and now headquartered, literally and spiritually, in the Hoosier state. That means, of course, high-pressure conference tournaments; Big Dance brackets and pairings; controversial selections and exclusions; friendly wagers; blowouts; upsets; scoring runs; dry spells; lead changes; come-frombehind victories; heartbreaking defeats; and last-second, game-winning three-pointers. But in only the first week of the third month of the Gregorian calendar, it’s clear-from personal life, to the recession (er…
Save the date: March 27. That’s when the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis will release the latest data on Indiana’s economy. At that time, we’ll get the first estimate of personal income for the last three months of 2007, plus revisions of previous quarters. If there is a recession, that’s where we will see the first clear indications. If? Yes, it is still not clear if there is a recession because the data, our photos of economic performance, are not…
An Indianapolis-based firm long known for public relations and crisis communications work is now trying to make its mark as a full-service advertising agency. Borshoff, formerly Borshoff Johnson Matthews, last month hired Art Haynie, a veteran Los Angeles-based creative director, to bolster the effort. “Public relations has been our handle for a long time,” said company founder Myra Borshoff Cook. “Now, we have to get the word out that we’re just as strong in other areas. To grow we feel…
You probably arenâ??t begrudging farmers and others for the record farmland prices theyâ??re enjoying.
But those prices wouldnâ??t be so high if the ethanol plants popping up across Indiana and elsewhere in the
Midwest werenâ??t using so much corn.
Now weâ??re…
A new report by a Washington, D.C., think tank shows 25 states expect budget shortfalls in their 2009 fiscal
years. Illinois and Kentucky are on the list issued by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, but Indiana
isnâ??tâ??at least…
College and university foundations have been raking in the dollars in the past few years due to big investment
returns. Millions of dollars have flowed in.
As IBJ reporter Tracy Donhardt wrote in this weekendâ??s paper, critics say more of…
Several years ago, I had a conversation with a friend about “The Tipping Point,” a now-famous book by economist Malcolm Gladwell. During this conversation, my friend casually mentioned that he thought it would be beneficial (though I think he may have actually said, “Wouldn’t it be cool…”) to get together with other people in the community to discuss the ideas put forth in this book and a variety of other “businessrelated” titles. I admit, I agreed that it would, indeed,…
The state’s economic development leaders have been touting 2007 as a banner year that brought commitments for more than 22,000
new jobs, including positions in manufacturing, logistics and life sciences. But almost 20 percent of the announced jobs would
be in call centers–jobs that typically pay near or below the state’s $35,000 average annual wage.
A new statewide poll shows a high correlation between registered voters who intend to vote for Democratic
presidential candidate Barack Obama and incumbent Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels.
Obama and Daniels are almost polar opposites philosophically, so what gives? Mostly…
For seven years, real estate investment trusts delivered returns that clobbered the overall stock market. Then, last year, the winning streak came to an end. Between January 2007 and January 2008, REITs as a whole lost 24 percent of their value. An index of the companies took a bigger hit than most every other sector. Among local REITs, Duke Realty Corp. was the hardest hit, with its stock price falling 44 percent, from about $41 to $23, during the one-year…
For more than a half-century, we have built complex statistical models to attempt to explain why regions enjoy different levels of prosperity. Virtually every conceivable variable-from ethno-linguistic similarity indexes to existing natural resources to government structures-have been tried, with the models proving enormously successful. One critical insight in this extensive body of research is that human capital-the quality of a labor force-yields the strongest explanation for differences in prosperity. When we apply these models to the United States, the importance…
Today-not tomorrow or next week, but now-is the moment to get involved in improving your life and the lives of your family and neighbors. Don’t delay. All you need do is both of two simple things. First, find out who is running in the primary election on May 6 for the Indiana House of Representatives and Senate from your district. Yes, the national news media have told us that our Indiana primary may be meaningless. They are referring to the…
Forbes Publisher Rich Karlgaard thinks business journalists are stirring up recession talk.
In a column this week with a takeout headlined â??Business press incompetence and fear,â?? Karlgaard advises against
believing everything one reads.
Hereâ??s what he writes:
â??Want to know the truth about…
Businesses and their employees opened pockets last year to enable United Way of Central Indiana to hit a
record $39 million in contributions.
The not-for-profit attributed the good news to hustle by campaign co-chairmen who offered money from their…
Inflation is speeding up and wage growth is slowing down, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics said this
morning.
Blame rising oil prices for the inflation and the slowing economy for the sluggish wage growth, says the
Economic Policy Institute, a…
