Social economic trends can be generally defined as courses or directions of a complex of factors such as income, employment status, demographic shifts, years of education, etc. These trends reflect dimensions of power and prestige as well as that of wealth. The debate over social economic trends is as old as that in Political Economy. In fact, it is not farfetched to suggest that they are one and the same. In order to examine as many social economic trends in Washington, DC as possible and cohesively, the research methodology that underlies all of the chapters in this book is time-series: i.e. a quasi-experimental design that comprises arranged numerical observations collected over time in the same sequence (daily, monthly, annually, etc.). The timeframe covered in these chapters is from 1970 to 2006.

The articles selected for Social-Economic Trends in Washington, DC explore the following topics:



Per Capita Income
Civilian Labor Force
Government Employees
Unemployment
Physicians
Social Security Program Beneficiaries
Medicare Enrollment
New Private Housing Trends in Washington, DC
Manufacturing
Accommodation and Food Service Sales
Retail Trade