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Christopher Decker

Professor of Economics, University of Nebraska Omaha
Professor Decker received his Ph.D. in Business Economics from Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business in 2000 and teaches courses in Microeconomics, Business Economics, Economic Forecasting, and Natural Resource Economics at UNO. His academic work has been published in a verity of academic journals including Economic Inquiry, Journal of Law and Economics, Environmental and Resource Economics, Annals of Regional Science, Review of Regional Studies, Applied Economics, Ecological Economics, and Contemporary Economic Policy. Professor Decker has also partnered with several organizations to conduct economic assessments and forecasts of city and regional economies, including the production of a large number of economic impact studies using IMPLAN. IMPLAN-Based studies include: The Economic Impact the Aviation Industry on the State of Nebraska, and The Economic Impact of the Nebraska Business Development Center on Nebraska. Other studies have included assessing the economic impact of immigrant populations on the local economy. Before joining UNO, Professor Decker worked in the private sector for DRI/McGraw-Hill (now IHS Global Insight) from 1990 to 1993, and FW Dodge/McGraw-Hill from 1993 to 1995, producing forecasts for regional economies, of energy prices and demand, long-range macroeconomic and demographic indicators, as well as construction prices, and commercial and institutional construction activity.

Latest inflation figures are good news

May 16, 2024 04:24 am UTC| Insights & Views Economy

The U.S. economy is slowing, but not crashing. In the dismal science, this is what counts as good news. Thats the message I took away from the latest inflation data, released May 15, 2024, which showed U.S. consumer...

Central Banking Series

High interest rates aren’t going away anytime soon – a business economist explains why

May 02, 2024 06:00 am UTC| Insights & Views Economy

The Federal Reserve held interest rates steady at its May 1, 2024, policy meeting, dashing the hopes of potential homebuyers and others who were hoping for a cut. Not only will rates remain at their current level a...

Jobs are up, wages less so – and lower purchasing power could still lead the US into a recession

Sep 04, 2023 05:36 am UTC| Economy

Dont be overly fooled by seemingly rosy jobs data heading into the Labor Day weekend. Yes, the U.S. economy added 187,000 jobs in August 2023 faster than the revised 157,000 increase for July and above most analysts...

Central Banking Series

The Federal Reserve and the art of navigating a soft landing ... when economic data sends mixed signals

May 01, 2023 12:43 pm UTC| Economy Central Banks

With inflation easing and the U.S. economy cooling, is the Federal Reserve done raising interest rates? After all, gently bringing down the trajectory of prices without crashing the economy was the central banks objective...

Jobs report hints that Fed policy is paying off – and that a 'growth recession' awaits

Apr 10, 2023 16:13 pm UTC| Economy

The latest jobs report is in, and the good news is Federal Reserve policy on inflation appears to be working. The bad news is Fed policy on inflation appears to be working. The March 2023 jobs report reveals that the...

Inflation is proving particularly stubborn -- but jitters over banking failures, softening economy complicate Fed rate decision

Mar 15, 2023 15:45 pm UTC| Economy Central Banks

The Federal Reserve is facing a rather sticky problem. Despite its best efforts over the past year, inflation is stubbornly refusing to head south with any urgency to a target of 2%. Rather, the inflation report...

Inflation is spiking around the world – not just in the United States

Aug 02, 2022 04:17 am UTC| Economy

The 9.1% increase in U.S. consumer prices in the 12 months ending in June 2022, the highest in four decades, has prompted many sobering headlines. Meanwhile, annual inflation in Germany and the U.K. countries with...

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Economy

What should you do if you can’t pay your rent or mortgage?

The cost of living crisis is making it difficult for many people to pay their bills, including housing costs. Private sector rents have increased by an average 9% over the year to February 2024, and rising interest rates...

Reducing energy demand and improving efficiency will help prevent the next gas crisis

Gas prices have relaxed, Europe has come out of the winter with record gas storage levels and a surfeit of liquefied natural gas is set to reach the shores of Europe over the coming years. Many commentators are hopeful...

Minimum wage for South African farm workers: study shows 2013 hike helped reduce poverty even though compliance was poor

Minimum wage policies are typically aimed at reducing poverty. Yet there is little direct evidence of this effect, especially in developing countries. And none for South Africa. In a recent paper, we consider the...

Gas is good until 2050 and beyond, under Albanese gas strategy

The Albanese government is talking up the crucial role of gas as a transition fuel through to 2050 and beyond. In a gas strategy to be released on Thursday, the government envisages the fuels uses would change over...

South Africa’s plan to move away from coal: 8 steps to make it succeed

The South African governments Just Energy Transition Implementation Plan was launched in November 2023. It is a roadmap guiding the country away from reliance on coal-fired power towards renewable energy alternatives by...

Politics

Donald Trump Allegedly Offers Oil Execs a Deal to Scrap EV Incentives for $1B Donation

Former President Donald Trump reportedly proposed a $1 billion deal to oil executives, offering to end electric vehicle (EV) subsidies in return for campaign funding, according to The Washington Post. This move underscores...

US Supreme Court upended decades of precedent in 2022 by allowing voters to vote with gerrymandered maps instead of fixing the congressional districts first

For the 2022 midterm elections, the U.S. Supreme Court allowed Alabama to use congressional districts that violated the law and diluted the voting power of Black citizens. A 5-4 vote by the Supreme Court in February...

Germany lowers voting age to 16 for the European elections

Ahead of the European parliament elections in June, Germany has lowered the age limit on participation to 16. This makes it the largest of just a handful of states in the EU to allow people under the age of 18 to vote....

South Africa will be president of the G20 in 2025: two much-needed reforms it should drive

South Africa will play an important international role in 2025 as president of the G20. The G20 is a group of 19 countries as well as the African Union and the European Union. Between them they represent 85% of global...

What early 2024 polls are revealing about voters of color and the GOP

By the end of winter 2024, the return of Donald Trump to the top of the GOP presidential ticket has revealed a surprising trend in the former presidents base of support: his increasing popularity among Black and Latino...

Science

Is dark matter’s main rival theory dead? There’s bad news from the Cassini spacecraft and other recent tests

One of the biggest mysteries in astrophysics today is that the forces in galaxies do not seem to add up. Galaxies rotate much faster than predicted by applying Newtons law of gravity to their visible matter, despite those...

Why are algorithms called algorithms? A brief history of the Persian polymath you’ve likely never heard of

Algorithms have become integral to our lives. From social media apps to Netflix, algorithms learn your preferences and prioritise the content you are shown. Google Maps and artificial intelligence are nothing without...

IceCube researchers detect a rare type of energetic neutrino sent from powerful astronomical objects

About a trillion tiny particles called neutrinos pass through you every second. Created during the Big Bang, these relic neutrinos exist throughout the entire universe, but they cant harm you. In fact, only one of them is...

The Mars Sample Return mission has a shaky future, and NASA is calling on private companies for backup

A critical NASA mission in the search for life beyond Earth, Mars Sample Return, is in trouble. Its budget has ballooned from US$5 billion to over $11 billion, and the sample return date may slip from the end of this...

Dark matter: our new experiment aims to turn the ghostly substance into actual light

A ghost is haunting our universe. This has been known in astronomy and cosmology for decades. Observations suggest that about 85% of all the matter in the universe is mysterious and invisible. These two qualities are...

Technology

CPI Report Spurs Optimism, BlackRock CIO Forecasts Fixed Income Growth

The release of the U.S. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) report provided a wave of relief to the financial markets. This signaled a possible reduction in inflationary pressures. Rick Rieder, Chief Investment Officer of...

Over 50 Million USDT Blacklisted by Tether Amid Regulatory Scrutiny, Details Inside

Tether has blacklisted five wallets holding 54.1 million USDT, amidst increasing regulatory scrutiny and past enforcement actions. Tether Blacklists Five Wallets Holding 54.1 Million USDT Amid Ongoing Regulatory...

Altcoins Expected to Yield 2x-5x Gains by May End: Fetch.AI, Floki, AAVE, ENA

The latest climb in Bitcoins price beyond $65,000 on Wednesday sparked a new relief rally in the cryptocurrency market. Top altcoins are also profiting from the upward momentum, recovering from recent downturn tendencies....

US Orthodontic Leader Accepts Shiba Inu, Embracing Cryptocurrency for Payments

Shiba Inu, the popular meme coin, is experiencing a period of growth and increased utility. Amoré Orthodontic Aligners, a company that specializes in orthodontic care, recently announced that it will now accept SHIB...

Crypto Lender Genesis to Return $3 Billion in Bankruptcy Wind-Down Amid Rising Creditor Haircuts

Crypto lender Genesis Global received court approval to return nearly $3 billion to customers, while a report highlights a significant increase in creditor haircuts in bankruptcy cases to 73% in FY24. Judge Approves...