Visitors to Midtown Detroit

July 28, 2011 — The Editors

In recent years, Midtown Detroit has seen an economic revival. The area is a major destination for visitors to Detroit. The number one destination is the main branch of the Detroit Public Library, followed by The Detroit Institute of Arts across the street. Data show the annual number of visitors.

Geographic ref.: Midtown Detroit, Michigan
Year: 2010
Market Size: Nearly 1.9 million people
Source: Doug McInnis, “Talk of the Town: Midtown Detroit Undergoes an Economic Revival,” Wayne State, July 2011, pages 10-19
Original Source: University Cultural Center Association.
Posted on July 28, 2011

Posted in Entertainment, Population, Travel. No Comments »

Packaging Machinery

July 27, 2011 — The Editors

Packaging Machinery Industry Shipments

Most products sold are packaged for shipping and additionally, for items sold through retail outlets, for presentation within a retail setting. All that packaging uses a lot of material and sophisticated machinery is used to actual do the packaging. The machines used to do the packaging—be that bottling, canning, labeling or wrapping—are what we look at in today’s market size post.

Today’s market size is the value of all shipments by U.S. manufacturers of packaging machinery in 2009. The graphic presents data on this industries shipments over the past decade and shows a pattern that bucks the trend seen in most U.S. manufacturing industries.

Geographic reference: United States
Year: 2009
Market size: $4.13 billion
Source: Release Date: 12/3/2010
Sector 31: Annual Survey of Manufactures: General Statistics: Statistics for Industry Groups and Industries: 2009 and 2008, 2009 Annual Survey of Manufactures, NAICS Industry 333993, data release date 12/03/2010, available online href="http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/IBQTable?_bm=y&-NAICSASM=333993&-ds_name=AM0931GS101&-ib_type=NAI
CSASM&-_industry=333993&-_lang=en">here. Data used to produce the graph come from a series of Census Bureau reports that have been combined with other industry data and presented with a long historical perspective in a work edited by Joyce P. Simkin titled Manufacturing & Distribution USA, Sixth Edition, published by Gale—Cengage Learning in 2011, Volume 2, page 1115.
Original source: U.S. Bureau of the Census
Posted on July 27, 2011

Posted in Heavy Machinery, Packaging. 2 Comments »

Home Equity Lines of Credit

July 26, 2011 — The Editors

Home equity lines of credit, also known as second liens, are part of the overall financial sector and part of the troubled housing sector as well. The bursting of the housing bubble in early 2008 started what became a worldwide financial crisis which is still destabalizing financial markets around the globe to this day. The housing market in the United States is still very unstable with an estimated 23% of mortgage holders owing more on their mortgages than the current value of the asset for which the loan was acquired (e.g. they are underwater). Of mortgaged properties that are underwater, approximately 40% also carry a home equity line of credit worth an average per property of $65,000. We should expect to see continued write downs within the banking industry related to the housing crisis for some time to come.

Today’s market size is the value of bank holdings in home equity loans as of the first quarter of 2011.

Geographic reference: United States
Year: First quarter of 2011
Market size: $624 billion
Source: Gretchen Morgenson, “2nd Loan, 2nd Wave of Losses,”, The New York Times, July 17, 2011, page B1.
Posted on July 26, 2011

Posted in Banking, Housing. 1 Comment »

Bicycle Share Systems

July 25, 2011 — The Editors

“When I see an adult on a bicycle, I do not despair for the future of the human race.” — H.G. Wells

Bicycle sharing is a system in which bicycle stations are set up at various places around a city. Each station can have tens, hundreds, or thousands of bicycles for rent, depending on demand. Customers rent the bicycles by the hour or by the day and then return them to the nearest bicycle sharing station.

These bicycle sharing systems are currently much more popular in major European cities than they are in cities in the Americas. However, the United States outranks any other country when it comes to bicycle sharing systems on college and university campuses with 24 such systems nationwide. Mexico, Philippines, and the United Kingdom are the only other countries with bicycle sharing systems on college campuses, each having just one station. As of June 2011, Warsaw, Poland; Boston, Massachusetts; and Lansing, Michigan were in the planning stages of adding bicycle sharing systems to their cities. Eric Schertzing, organizer of the Lansing, Michigan effort, said “he envisions bike sharing to be most appealing to downtown employees and tourists, and possibly renters who don’t want to haul bicycles up and down apartment stairs.”

Geographic reference: World
Year: 2008, 2009, 2010
Market size: 92, 160, and 238 stations respectively
Source: “Selling Smart Bicycles: A Delicate Dance, Part 2,” viaCycle, May 26, 2011, available online here; Lindsay
VanHulle, “Ingham County Considering $100,000 Bike Sharing Service,” Lansing State Journal, June 23, 2011, available online here; “List of Bicycle Sharing Systems,” Wikipedia, available online here.
Posted on July 25, 2011

Posted in All Transport Vehicles, Bikes. 2 Comments »

Summer Camp

July 18, 2011 — The Editors

Today’s market size is the estimated annual number of people attending an organized camping experience of the sort run by the nation’s roughly 12,000 camp organizations. Of these organizations, about two-thirds are non-profits and the rest are privately owned. Most of the people attending camps are children enrolled in summer camps, camps which are tending increasingly towards specializations such as a focus on a particular sport, an artistic pursuit (e.g. music) or an academic area of study (e.g. science).

Geographic reference: United States
Year: 2011
Market size: 11 million
Source: Natasha Singer, “When S’Mores Aren’t Enough,” The New York Times, July 10, 2011, page B1.
Original Source: American Camp Association
July 18, 2011

Posted in Arts & Crafts, Child Care Services & Products, Educational Services, Entertainment. No Comments »

Hungarian Import Market

July 15, 2011 — The Editors

The newest edition of an important statistical compilation produced annually was released recently by the United Nations. The work is listed fully in the source note below.

Today’s market size is the size of the Hungarian market for those exporting to Hungary, thus, the size of the Hungarian market for imports. Over the last decade, Hungary saw the value of its imports rise by 174% but saw exports rise even more (238%) producing a positive trade balance for the nation in 2010.

Geographic reference: Hungary
Year: 2010
Market size: $87,612 million
Source: “Total Imports and Exports by Regions and Countries or Areas (TableA)”, 2010 International Trade Statistics Yearbook, Vol. 1—Trade by Country, June 16, 2011, available online here.
Source: United Nations, International Merchandise Trade Statistics Section

Posted in International Trade. No Comments »

Catholic Diocesan Newspapers and Magazines

July 14, 2011 — The Editors

Today’s market size is a measure of the market for Catholic diocesan newspapers and magazines measured in circulation figures. The figures are rounded.

Geographic reference: United States and Canada
Year: 2010
Market Size: 13 million households
Source: Sam Ludero, “Bishop: Newspapers Need Attention, Still Have Major Role,” The Catholic Times, July 2 – July 8, 2011, page 1
Original Source: Catholic Press Association’s official directory
Posted on July 14, 2011 — Happy Bastille Day to our French friends!

Posted in Publishing, Religious affiliation. No Comments »

Fish Catch

July 13, 2011 — The Editors

While many spend summer hours in the often leisurely act of fishing, we look today to fishery production for our market size. The market presented below is the size of the domestic catch in the United States for 2008. This does not include, of course, all those Rock Bass, Walleye, Trout, Bluegill, Pike and Perch being pulled from lakes and streams all over the country by sports fisherman. Rather it is the size of the commercial catch.

Geographic reference: United States
Year: 2008
Market size: 8,326 million pounds
Source: “Table 889. Fishery Products—Domestic Catch, Imports, and Dispostion: 1990 to 2008,” Statistical Abstract of the United States 2011, January 2011, Page 566, available online here.
Original source: U.S. Census Bureau

Posted in Aquaculture, Food, Natural Resources. No Comments »

World Trade

July 11, 2011 — The Editors

The newest edition of an important yearly statistical compilation was released recently by the United Nations. The work is listed fully in the source note below. The statistics in this work help quantify the term globalization, so often heard but not, perhaps fully understood for the transformative impact that it is having on world trade.

Today’s marketsize is the size of all exports worldwide as valued in dollars. Total exports in 2000 as well as 2010 are provided and the 133% increase noteworthy. The peak year in this decade was 2008.

Geographic reference: World
Year: 2000 and 2010
Market size: $6,337,820 and $14,784,130 million respectively
Source: “World Exports by Provenance and Destination (TableD)”, 2010 International Trade Statistics Yearbook, Vol. 1—Trade by Country, June 16, 2011, available online here.

Posted in International Trade. No Comments »

“Green” Commuting

July 8, 2011 — The Editors

Ways to commute to work

Whenever we hear about the rising price of oil, most of us immediately worry about the increased cost for the gasoline we put in our vehicles to get us to and from work each day. But for some of us, this is not a worry. Although still a small percentage of the working population as a whole, increasing numbers of workers are choosing to bicycle or walk to work. And, some of us who are able are choosing to work from home, thereby not commuting at all. The data show the number of workers 16 years old and over who bicycle or walk to work and those that work from home. Numbers in parentheses represent the percentage of the working population as a whole.

Geographic reference: United States
Year: 2000 and 2009
Market size: Bicycle to worK — 566,384 (0.4%) and 831,551 (0.6%) respectively
Market size: Walk to work — 3,417,080 (2.7%) and 4,019,162 (2.9%) respectively
Market size: Work from home — 4,009,006 (3.2%) and 5,959,448 (4.3%) respectively
Source: American Community Survey, various dates, available online here.
Original Source: U.S. Census Bureau

Posted in All Transport Vehicles, Bikes, Travel. No Comments »
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