Southwest Economy Archive

• November 14, 2025
  Texas economy cools as concerns about tariffs, uncertainty persist

  Tucker Smith, Luis Torres and Ethan Dixon

  The Texas economy appears to be cooling following an upturn during the summer. The TBOS headline indexes of manufacturing production and services revenue weakened in September and October, following a brief late -summer rebound.
• November 10, 2025
  Has the opioid crisis peaked in Texas and the U.S.?

  Ethan Dixon and Pia Orrenius

  After years of mounting deaths and costs from opioid addition, recent declines in both Texas and the nation suggest the worst may have passed.
• November 7, 2025
  Podcast: Hammering home why a U.S. housing shortage persists
  Cullum Clark, director of the Bush Institute–SMU Economic Growth Initiative and an adjunct economics professor at Southern Methodist University, discusses his recent report, “Build Homes, Expand Opportunity: Lessons from America’s Fastest-Growing Cities” with the Dallas Fed’s Pia Orrenius.
• October 31, 2025
  Overflowing U.S. shale gas increasingly streams to Mexico and onto global markets

  Jesse Thompson, Luis Torres and Diego Morales-Burnett

  Huge volumes of imported shale gas from the United States have provided the ample supply for Mexico’s growing energy needs, keeping power prices down for industries and households.
• October 17, 2025
  Immigration crackdown likely contributing to weak Texas job growth

  Isabel Brizuela, Emily Kerr, Pia Orrenius and Madeline Zavodny

  Findings from the Dallas Fed Texas Business Outlook Surveys (TBOS) suggest immigration policy changes will negatively affect the ability to hire and retain foreign-born workers at one in five Texas businesses this year.
• October 6, 2025
  Texas learns lessons from for-profit alternative teacher certification
  Dallas Fed economist Christa Deneault discusses her research examining how teaching certifications earned from for-profit providers stack up against those earned through more conventional means.
• September 5, 2025
  Austin doctor who leads equity firm aims to cure U.S. health care
  Garheng Kong, a physician by training who founded Austin-based HealthQuest Capital in 2012, discusses his outlook for the industry and why his firm is based in Austin.
• August 11, 2025
  Texas economy softens amid uncertain outlook

  Luis Torres and Diego Morales-Burnett

  Texas’ overall pace of economic growth is trending lower, with payroll employment declining in June, a marked turn from robust job gains earlier in 2025.
• July 9, 2025
  China remains modest player in U.S.–Mexico trade despite growing scrutiny

  Brendan Kelly

  Understanding Mexico’s evolving economic linkages with East Asia and China is critical to the future of the United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement (USMCA trade accord) and the nearshoring and integration of North American manufacturing supply chains.
• June 6, 2025
  Eleventh District banks rely on core business, stay profitable as loan growth softens

  Ben Munyan

  Banks in the Federal Reserve Eleventh District have adapted to rising interest rates, which have discouraged new borrowing and complicated the transition to higher-earning loan portfolios, while credit remains strong as borrowers continue to make payments amidst economic growth.