Economists know that lower income households most commonly refinance their mortgages and tap that equity when home values rise. But a new study from the National Bureau of Economic Research finds that when those households have extra cash on hand,…

Since the recession ended in 2009, the U.S. economy has experienced mainly positive growth. But new data from the Commerce Department on Wednesday reveals that in the first quarter of 2014, the economy contracted -- suffering its sharpest pullback in…