NPR Topics: Economy

Boeing Engineer Gets 15 Years In Economic Espionage

Date: Mon, 08 Feb 2010 17:02:00 -0500
A Chinese-born engineer convicted in the United States' first economic espionage trial was sentenced to more than 15 years in prison for stealing sensitive information on the U.S. space program with the intent of passing it to China.

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Businesses Reluctant To Hire New Workers

Date: Mon, 08 Feb 2010 04:00:00 -0500
The economy looks better this year than it did in 2009 but despite positive economic reports, businesses remain reluctant to hire and financial markets are still jittery. David Wessel of The Wall Street Journal tells Renee Montagne that the economy isn't growing fast enough to create enough businesses that need new workers.

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U.S. Security Now Hinges On European Financial Crisis

Date: Sun, 07 Feb 2010 08:00:00 -0500
A year ago, the U.S. intelligence community's "threat assessment" identified the global financial crisis as the number one near-term threat to national security. This year's assessment found that the global economy less threatening, but it did highlight one notable development: Economic problems in Europe are now more worrisome than in the developing world, a reversal of the pattern of recent years. NPR's Tom Gjelten reports.

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The Super Bowl Stock Market Predictor

Date: Sun, 07 Feb 2010 08:00:00 -0500
The Super Bowl Stock Market Predictor holds that if a team from the old NFL wins, the market will rise in that year; if a team from the old AFL wins, the market will fall. In 1990 two researchers found that the predictor was accurate 91 percent of the time. A member of Washington and Lee University's finance faculty, George Kester, has completed a new study that finds that the predictor's accuracy has fallen slightly to 77 percent. He speaks with host Liane Hansen.

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Small Relief In Job Numbers

Date: Sat, 06 Feb 2010 08:00:00 -0500
The January jobs report showed the economy losing 20,000 jobs, but there was some good news. The unemployment rate actually declined last month. Monthly job losses have declined sharply from a year ago, but employers are still very reluctant to hire additional workers.

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