Figure 2

Change in economic performance due to the recent recession versus tightness T.

Each graph illustrates how 364 US Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) fared during the recent recession versus our metric of the city’s tightness. Each point represents a single MSA whose 2006 value of T is plotted against (a) percent change in nominal per capita personal income 2006–2009, (b) change in employment rate 2006–2009 and (c) percent change in home purchase index 2006–2009. The x-axis is logarithmic in each case.