Southwest Economy Archive

• September 30, 2024
  No need for Texas to come up dry in pursuit of adequate water supplies
  Sheila Olmstead, professor at the Jeb E. Brooks School of Public Policy at Cornell University, discusses the competing demands for water in Texas and the challenges that growth poses.
• September 20, 2024
  Old oil fields reimagined as lithium sources

  Michael Plante, Vaughn Hajra and Sasha Samperio

  The Smackover Formation, extending broadly from East Texas to Florida, is ground zero in the effort to produce lithium from oilfield brines.
• August 14, 2024
  Texas community banks grapple with national stresses as elevated rates pose new tests

  Mariam Yousuf and Prithvi Kalkunte

  Despite community banks’ relative strength in Texas, the outlook through year-end 2024 comes with evolving downside risks, particularly involving unrealized losses on fixed-income holdings.
• August 5, 2024
  Cattle ranchers have no beef with sizzling prices as consumers keep buying
  David Anderson, professor and extension economist with the Department of Agricultural Economics at Texas A&M University, discusses what’s driving cattle and beef prices from feedlots in the Texas Panhandle to supermarkets at a time when the size of the overall U.S. herd is at a more-than six-decade low.
• July 10, 2024
  Electricity providers hard pressed to keep up with growing tech-heavy demand
  Dallas Fed economist Kunal Patel discusses the strains on the power grid, including those arising from Texas’ growing population, electrification of the economy, nearshoring and evolving technologies.
• May 24, 2024
  Strong peso, stubborn inflation cloud Mexico’s 2024 growth prospects

  Jesus Cañas, Luis Torres and Diego Morales-Burnett

  Mexican economic performance is likely to slow in 2024, with stubborn inflation, rising labor costs and a strong peso posing downside risks. Conversely, nearshoring and a larger-than-expected fiscal impact could bolster the Mexican outlook.
• May 20, 2024
  Podcast: Lagging productivity gains restrain Mexico’s economic prospects
  Dallas Fed economists Sewon Hur and Pia Orrenius discuss how improving productivity could propel Mexico beyond the ranks of middle-income nations.
• May 13, 2024
  Addressing Texas grid reliability: Time to go nuclear?

  Garrett Golding, Emily Perlmeter and Prithvi Kalkunte

  Thirty years after Texas’ last nuclear plant opened, new nuclear generation could provide needed power without planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions.
• May 3, 2024
  Texas high tech shakes off post-pandemic slump, readies new growth path
  Texas is poised to lead in new advanced technologies, notably artificial intelligence (AI) and semiconductor manufacturing.
• April 16, 2024
  Mexico’s productivity woes limit nearshoring, growth potential
  Industrial policy reform, nearshoring and a deeper Mexico–U.S. partnership could provide tailwinds for Mexican economic growth. Whether Mexico can harness the full potential of such transformative change is less clear.