MSNBC is running a neat tool using Moody's data to create an Adversity Index that looks at employment, construction, home prices and industrial production by MSA over a 15 year period. The methodology is described here. It appears they are using different weights on the four factors for each state or metro area, so I don't know how to replicate the results. Looking at St. Cloud, I note that my own data analysis shows a local area recession in 1996 when the larger economy was not. The Adversity Index confirms that (unsurprisingly, since two of the four elements of their index are in what I use.)

Labels: economics