Southwest Economy Archive

• September 30, 2021
  Missteps along U.S.–Mexico border hinder movement of COVID-19 biomedical trade

  Keighton Hines and Roberto Coronado

  While most activity in the Paso del Norte region is concentrated in automotive parts and electronic components, a cluster of biomedical manufacturers has emerged in Juárez in recent years.
• September 30, 2021
  Birth rates falling faster in Texas than U.S.

  Design: Olumide Eseyin; Content: James Lee, Pia Orrenius, Ana Pranger

  Although birth rates in Texas remain higher than in the U.S., their decline since 2007 has been particularly noteworthy.
• September 30, 2021
  U.S. recessions test Latino advances
  Economic outcomes of Latinos are far more sensitive to the business cycle than are outcomes for non-Hispanic whites.
• June 18, 2021
  Southwest Economy, Second Quarter 2021
  This issue looks federal-level assistance programs and their effect on immigrant groups and how the Texas freeze affected the petrochemical industry. Also included are discussions on how the pandemic has changed the dining and banking industries, a spotlight on oil patch productivity, and an infographic on the how working women fared during the pandemic.
• June 18, 2021
  Federal COVID-19 relief aided consumer debt, though immigrant Texans derived less benefit

  Wenhua Di and Chloe Smith

  The prevalence of various federal-level assistance programs helped U.S. and Texas residents shore up their household finances during the COVID-19 recession. Among mostly immigrant groups, this tendency was less pronounced, likely due to legal and socioeconomic barriers.
• June 18, 2021
  Texas winter deep freeze broke refining, petrochemical supply chains

  Jesse Thompson

  It may take the Texas petrochemical industry until year-end 2021 to fully recover from the record cold that triggered power outages and supply disruptions in mid-February.
• June 18, 2021
  Banks face new challenges as Texas rebounds from COVID-19 shock

  Amy Chapel, Kory Killgo and Kelly Klemme

  The banking industry faced significant challenges from the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, with profitability declining to levels not seen since the 2008–09 financial crisis.
• June 18, 2021
  President’s perspective
  President Kaplan shares recent thoughts on the outlook for Federal Reserve asset purchases, the labor market and inflation expectations.
• June 18, 2021
  Texas restaurants find change on postpandemic menu
  Emily Williams Knight, president and CEO of the Texas Restaurant Association, discusses how the dining industry survived COVID-19 and the changes that have occurred.
• June 18, 2021
  Oil patch productivity rises; jobs vanish

  Garrett Golding and Sean Howard

  After major oil price busts in 2014 and 2020, the same engineering prowess that helped the oil and gas industry thrive has been driven to find efficiencies to lower operating costs.