Southwest Economy Archive

• June 23, 2020
  COVID-19 tanks U.S. fuel consumption, prices

  Design: Olu Eseyin; Content: Jesse Thompson

  The effects of the pandemic, including working from home and reduced travel, dropped fuel consumption from mid-March to mid-April 2020.
• April 6, 2020
  Mexico’s higher costs under USMCA may potentially offset gains from China-related trade spurt with U.S.

  Daniel Chiquiar, Jesus Cañas, Armando Aguirre and Alfonso Cebreros

  Approval of the United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement (USMCA) could change trade within the North American region, affecting output and weakening North America’s global competitiveness.
• April 6, 2020
  Groundwater markets slowly evolve in ever-thirstier Texas

  Keith R. Phillips and Judy Teng

  Texas’ growing population is increasing the demand for water, a commodity that in many parts of the state is subject to wide swings from abundance during wet cycles to shortfall during droughts.
• April 6, 2020
  Mexico seeks to reduce consumers' longstanding reliance on cash

  Michael Perez

  Unlike the U.S., where consumers opt to pay with debit and credit cards or via apps, Mexico and its large informal economy continue to rely on hard cash. A new digital payment platform from the nation’s central bank aims to reduce the role of currency.
• April 6, 2020
  Permian Basin’s shale-era oil production rises even as rig count falls

  Emma Marshall and Jesse Thompson

  A change in the number of active drilling rigs is no longer the reliable predictor for near-term oil production growth that it once was.
• April 6, 2020
  Policy changes could boost women’s participation in U.S. workforce
  Fang Yang, an associate professor of economics at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, discusses the labor market impacts of tax policy, an evolving U.S. workforce, the effects of gender and an aging population.
• April 6, 2020
  Migrant apprehensions at U.S.–Mexico border spike in 2019

  Design: Justin Chavira; Content: Carlee Crocker, Pia Orrenius and Chloe Smith

  Apprehensions of migrants at the U.S. southern border surged in spring 2019.
• April 6, 2020
  Fed Chairman Jerome Powell comments on FOMC rate cut
  Excerpt from Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell’s statement following the Federal Open Market Committee’s emergency reduction of the federal funds rate to a range of 0–0.25 percent, March 15, 2020.
• April 6, 2020
  COVID-19 hits manufacturers

  Adapted from Texas Manufacturing Outlook Survey, March 30, 2020

  Softening oil prices and price expectations, negative stock market returns and tightening credit conditions are putting downward pressure on energy industry activity and employment.
• April 6, 2020
  Southwest Economy, First Quarter 2020
  This issue looks at how the USMCA could change trade in North America, a new digital payment platform in Mexico, and groundwater markets in Texas. It also includes a Spotlight on oil production, a Q&A with Fang Yang on an evolving U.S. workforce and an infographic on border apprehensions