*American economists continually attempt to gauge the health

[Sage Pearce-Higgins]

Yes, I agree that Tim's response wasn't very illuminating. Answer B is tempting because it mentions 'homes' and we might connect that with the 'mortgage applications' mentioned as one of the predictive so-called 'leading indicators'. However, we need to be super-precise for GMAT: building homes isn't the same as applying for mortgages.