National Bureau of Economic Research

The cost of filing for bankruptcy has risen in recent years as a result of the 2005 Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act, which aimed to reduce the number of bankruptcies by adding more requirements to the filing process.

Start early and get less each month? Wait longer and get bigger checks, but fewer of them. We break down the math.

A new study says top-performing teachers turn out students who learn more than the students who had the worst teachers. And that extra learning has a huge impact on earnings -- and the nation's economy. Still, some educational experts say the study raises more questions than it answers.

Highly skilled women will lose about a quarter of a million dollars, or as much as a third of their lifetime earnings, by choosing to have a child, making the prospect of raising a family a far more expensive one for college grads than their less-educated counterparts, a new study shows.

The National Bureau of Economic Research, the arbiter of when recessions begin and end, has reported that the Great Recession ended June 2009.

Despite what so many pundits say, the most accurate economic predictor -- the yield curve -- says we're not heading for a double-dip recession. But don't celebrate too much: experts still see sluggish growth ahead.

Is the recession finally over? It may well be, after the U.S. economy surged a better-than-expected 5.7% in the fourth quarter of 2009. The growth, driven by inventory gains, marks two consecutive quarters of GDP expansion -- usually long enough for the National Bureau of Economic Research to declare the end of a slump.

Brad DeLong, a Berkeley economist, thinks that different rules about government spending and deficits apply during a Depression. When the economy is doing fine, he estimates, $1 of government spending yields 40 cents in extra production and related jobs. But in a Depression, the $1 yields $1.50,...

Paul Krugman thinks the foundering economy may right itself this summer, he said in a speech today in London. Evidently, investors agree. Not long after the Nobel laureate and New York Times columnist made his prediction, stocks surged. "I would not be surprised if the official end of the U.S....

Liz Ann Sonders, chief investment strategist at Charles Schwab, says she is "optimistic" and "more comfortable" with her outlook about the U.S. economy. In fact, Sonders is "the most optimistic about the economy" she has been in two years, she said in an e-mail. Sonders has been warning folks...