indexed

right angle??? :)

I would have thought that, given the title, there would be an inverse relationship between the strength of the economy and the number of moving trucks available.

Barring peculiar choice of scale, I agree with anonymous.

Actually, I would rather expect more of a parabola. A poor economy means a lot of people moving out, a great economy means a lot of people moving in, while anything in between would give a more stable population.

Or, it could be more of a statement on the sort of prosperity treadmill aspect of middle-class suburbia, where as soon as people can afford to move on up to the east side, they put a down payment on their deluxe apartment in the sky.

The example is California in the early 90's where moving trucks headed out of state full and in-state empty.

Um, I rhink the keyword is *available*. When the economy is poor, more people are evicted/downsized/moving in with family, thus depleting the supply of available moving trucks. Conversely, when they economy is doing well, generally people try to keep status quo and stay put. A few people move, but the overall supply is not much affected. Also, rich people don't use moving trucks...they just have helicopters move their entire home in one piece, or just buy entirely new furniture, etc., so you don't have to factor them in for either case.

Anonymous, you are probably correct. Still, very confusing chart.

I don't think it's a confusing chart. The way I interpret it a strong local economy leads to many jobs and thus an increased mobility where people search for new opportunities and move more frequently in order to pursue them. And where on the other hand an inflexible economy means that you either have nowhere to go or that you're holding on to what you have for dear life.

California is still losing natives at a huge rate. U-Hauls from California to the east are $2000ish, while into California are <$500, just so they can get some trucks back into the state.

Okay. Strong economy. Lots of folks coming in. Nobody leaving. Many trucks Available. An analogy from the 1800s is how New Orleans was built from the trees making up the flatboats that all the farmers upriver made to float their farm produce to New Orleans, outlet to world markets for the entire middle of the country. And, being flatboats, it was a one-way trip... just like trucks to a strong economy.