Federal Reserve Economic Data

Each quarter, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System releases the Financial Accounts of the United States (Z.1 tables). They include data on transactions and levels of financial assets and liabilities, by sector and financial instrument; and full balance sheets, including net worth, for households and nonprofit organizations, nonfinancial corporate businesses, and nonfinancial noncorporate businesses.

Recently, the Board partnered up with FRED to simplify and enhance the use of these data in FRED. In the FRED graph above, we provide one way of visualizing these data: ratios of debt securities and loans to total assets for the nonfinancial corporate sector. These two ratios tell us how, and how much, the US nonfinancial corporate sector is financing their operations through leverage.*

The blue line is our debt security leverage ratio and the green line is our loan leverage ratio.

• From 1951 to 1990, both series generally moved together.
• From the 1990 recession to 2003, we see a shift away from loans toward debt securities.
• From 2003 to 2008, the loan leverage ratio was relatively constant while the debt leverage ratio decreased: Early in the 2008-09 recession, loans and debt securities were at similar levels. After that recession, we see another shift away from loans toward debt securities.
• During the pandemic, both series spiked as firms were forced to increase their levels of debt to endure reduced consumption.

*We use data from the “Balance Sheet of Nonfinancial Corporate Business” (B.103) release, which is part of the Board’s larger release, “Financial Accounts of the United States” (Z.1).

How this graph was created: Search FRED for and select “TABSNNCB.” Click “Edit Graph”: Use the “Customize” field to search for and select “NCBDBIQ027S” and add the series. Insert b/(1000*a) in the formula field. Use the “Add Line” tab to search for and select “TABSNNCB.” Then add series “NCBLL” and apply the same formula. Use the “Format” tab to change the line styles.

Suggested by Anna Cole and Julian Kozlowski.

Disposable income and spending growth tend to follow similar long-term trends, as shown in our FRED graph above. Over the past 15 years, real disposable personal income growth and real personal consumption expenditures growth have averaged just over 2.5% year-over-year.

These growth rates can deviate from their trends for short periods, notably after one-time fiscal stimulus payments to boost household spending. Disposable income spiked in the months of each of these payments in 2012, 2020, and 2021 and then declined. For example, it spiked at 5.8% in December 2012 and then declined 4.6% in December 2013. Similar but larger stimulus payments to households also appear as income spikes in April 2020, January 2021, and March 2021, with subsequent declines.

These one-time payments didn’t cause an immediate rise in spending, as many households saved this additional income. So, there are notable increases in the savings rate after these stimulus payments. Households eventually spent this additional income, consumption growth rose, and savings rates dropped below what they were before the stimulus. The effects of the stimulus on consumption faded in 2023 as households depleted the excess savings.

However, strong wage growth and increasing equity values boosted disposable incomes and sustained consumption growth throughout 2023 and 2024.

The latest data at the time of this writing (April 2025) show aggregate income and consumption growth converging at around 3%, which is higher than the 15-year average. However, aggregate data tell us nothing about the distribution of income and consumption across households. Many households are dedicating a greater share of their income to servicing debt, and credit card delinquency rates continue to rise.

How this graph was created: Search FRED for real disposable income and click on the first option. Then click on “Edit Graph” and change the units to “Percent Change from a Year Ago.” Next, open the “Add Line” tab, search for real consumption expenditures, and click on “Add Data Series.” Change the units to “Percent Change from Year Ago” again. Open the “Format” tab and change the color to gold for Line 1 and navy blue for Line 2 after clicking “Customize” for each. Change the line style to solid for the second line. Finally, apply the time range 2010-04-01 to today.

Suggested by John Fuller and Charles Gascon.

It’s summer and crops are well under way—a nice time for the FRED Blog to look back at the history of corn in this country.

Our FRED graph above shows the millions of acres of corn planted (green dashed line, right axis) and the millions of bushels of corn harvested (solid blue line, left axis) in the United States. This dataset goes all the way back to 1866.

Not long after that year, we see one of the earliest publications of the rhyme knee high by the 4th of July:

“It has been considered that if corn was knee high by the Fourth of July that the crop was sure and safe.”  —Sumner Gazette (Sumner, Iowa), July 3, 1884

It’s a lovely rhyme, but it isn’t as true as it once was. Today, corn can be head high by July. How much corn an acre of land yields depends on factors such as soil nutrients, humidity, rainfall, and the type of seeds planted.

Both acreage and crops increased hand in hand between 1866 and the early 1900s. The vagaries of weather help explain the occasional large dips in the size of the harvests, as during the Dust Bowl era in the early 1930s. After 1910, corn acreage plateaued and so did the crops. But starting in the early 1930s, acreage steadily shrank yet crop yields became larger. Why?

The key to more bountiful harvests was the hybrid corn seeds used for planting. These seeds are drought-resistant and better suited to dense plantings, and they produce sturdier plants more responsive to artificial fertilizer. Their broad use resulted in remarkable increases in corn crop yields. Hybrid saved the day.

How this graph was created: Search FRED for and select “Corn Crop for United States.” Click on “Edit Graph” and use the “Add Line” tab to search for and select “Corn Crop Acreage for United States.” These series originate in the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) Macrohistory Database. Last, from the “Format” panel, scroll down to the “Line 2” section and select “Y-Axis position: Right.”

Suggested by Diego Mendez-Carbajo.