Southwest Economy Podcast
Recent Podcasts
May 29, 2025
Jerry Pacheco, president of the Border Industrial Association in Santa Teresa, New Mexico, has been a guiding force behind the Santa Teresa Port of Entry, an alternative to the busy El Paso crossing nearby. He tells Dallas Fed economists Pia Orrenius and Isabel Brizuela how 12 miles of dirt highway eventually led to the bustling Santa Teresa commercial hub.
May 6, 2025
Former Waco Mayor Malcolm Duncan describes the impact of the Fixer Upper phenomenon—and his early skepticism about the HGTV show's potential to raise the city's profile. Duncan and Dallas Fed economist Emily Kerr also discuss benefits reaped from Baylor University's growth and challenges faced in building a commercial hub squarely between Dallas–Fort Worth and Austin.
April 11, 2025
Taylor County Texas A&M AgriLife Extension agent Steve Estes discusses with Dallas Fed economist Laila Assanie the challenges of perpetually coping with little rain in the Big Country, where agriculture and ranching drive the area economy, including that of Abilene.
March 7, 2025
Ray Perryman, principal of Waco-based The Perryman Group, has been an observer of the Texas economy for more than four decades. He offers his views of what has propelled Texas since the 1980s oil bust and the state’s future prospects, and he recounts how he grew his economics firm.
March 3, 2025
Enrique Dussel Peters, the coordinator of the Center for Chinese–Mexican Studies at the Universidad Nacional Autonóma de México, and Dallas Fed economist Jesus Cañas discuss challenges to the triangular trade relationship between the U.S., Mexico and China at a time of rising tensions.
Nov. 12, 2024
William Serrata, president of the El Paso County Community College District, discusses with Dallas Fed economist Pia Orrenius the unique postpandemic challenges community colleges face.
Oct. 1, 2024
Sheila Olmstead, a professor specializing in environmental policy at the Jeb E. Brooks School of Public Policy at Cornell University, discusses with Dallas Fed economist Pia Orrenius the competing demands for water in Texas and the challenges a growing economy poses.
July 9, 2024
The number of Texas cattle are at a multi-decade low at a time of strong demand and relatively high consumer prices. Dr. David Anderson, a Texas A&M University professor and extension economist, discusses with Dallas Fed economist Emily Kerr what’s driving the market, making even hamburger pricey.
June 24, 2024
Artificial intelligence, electric cars and power-hungry manufacturing are combining to boost electricity demand in Texas and nationwide. Dallas Fed economists Kunal Patel and Pia Orrenius examine what it will take to ensure that the lights stay on, and burgeoning user demand is met.
May 15, 2024
Investment, a large labor pool and proximity to the United States have helped propel Mexico’s economic fortunes. Dallas Fed economists Sewon Hur and Pia Orrenius discuss how improving productivity could propel Mexico beyond the ranks of middle-income nations.
April 4, 2024
Closing the widening federal budget will require tough choices, possibly including new taxes and cuts to entitlement programs, such as Social Security and the Children’s Health Insurance Program. American Enterprise Institute tax expert Alan Viard discusses some options with Dallas Fed economist Pia Orrenius.
January 19, 2024
Brownsville, long a quiet community in the largely agricultural Lower Rio Grande Valley, confronts a burst of activity from SpaceX launches to new port trade. Texas National Bank President Joe Quiroga, a lifelong area resident and Dallas Fed director, discusses the rapid change with Dallas Fed economist Pia Orrenius.
December 29, 2023
Dallas Fed economists Jesse Thompson and Pia Orrenius discuss how the employment profile of Texas increasingly resembles the U.S., while the energy sector ensures that the state remains unique.
November 3, 2023
Economist Jeffrey Fuhrer, a nonresident fellow at the Brookings Institution and former Boston Fed director of research, discusses The Myth that Made Us, his new book about inequalities in the nation’s economic system. He offers proposals to close the nation’s wealth gap in a discussion with Dallas Fed economist Pia Orrenius.
November 3, 2023
University of Chicago Booth School associate professor Michael Weber explains how audiences are most receptive to monetary policy messaging delivered by Fed officials whose ethnic or gender background is similar to theirs. The tendency is also generally observed in other communications contexts, he tells Dallas Fed economist Pia Orrenius.
September 29, 2023
Ben Munyan, the Dallas Fed’s Banking Supervision Department’s director of supervisory policy, provides insights on lessons learned this year and discusses with Dallas Fed economist Pia Orrenius where Texas banks stand.
July 6, 2023
Beni Lopez, chief executive of the Dallas-based U.S and Canada division of Softtek, outlines the Monterrey, Mexico, company’s strategy in the competitive North American market.
April 19, 2023
Dallas Fed economist David Rapson says there’s more to the energy transition than switching to electric cars in part one of his discussion with host and Dallas Fed economist Pia Orrenius.
Dallas Fed economist David Rapson says electric vehicles often supplement rather than replace existing fossil-fuel powered cars in part two of his discussion with host and Dallas Fed economist Pia Orrenius.
March 1, 2023
Former Banco de México chief economist Daniel Chiquiar discusses Mexico’s postpandemic outlook and its susceptibility to a U.S. downturn in a discussion with Dallas Fed senior business economist Jesus Cañas.
January 20, 2023
Senior economist Anil Kumar explores how greater labor availability in Texas—indicated by comparatively higher unemployment—spurs economic activity in an era of worker shortages across the country.
December 22, 2022
H-E-B President Craig Boyan discusses with Dallas Fed economist Pia Orrenius how the privately held grocer has tried to handle supply, price and labor challenges while continuing to expand in the state.
November 9, 2022
The era of shortages that began with the pandemic may be winding down, Dallas Fed economist Chris Slijk suggests in this discussion of pervasive supply disruptions with Dallas Fed economist Pia Orrenius.
November 2, 2022
Pol Antràs, the Robert G. Ory Professor of Economics at Harvard University, explains why despite frayed supply chains and geopolitical tensions, globalization remains a guiding principal for much of how world trade is conducted.
July 15, 2022
Houston, slow to escape pandemic-era doldrums, has charged ahead with strengthening energy markets. Dallas Fed economists Jesse Thompson and Pia Orrenius discuss what lies ahead for Houston.
July 5, 2022
Trade may have hit a few bumps during the pandemic, but it retains the ability to help deal with some vexing problems. The Dallas Fed’s Pia Orrenius discusses with Raymond Robertson of the Bush School of Government and Public Service at Texas A&M University how a revamped Central America–U.S. free trade agreement could slow the northward flow of migrants.
April 28, 2022
Enrollment dropped at colleges and universities in the U.S. and Texas as COVID-19 swept across the nation. Dallas Fed economists Wenhua Di and Pia Orrenius discuss the implications and the importance of getting back to normal.
April 21, 2022
Recent legalization of recreational marijuana in New Mexico opens up retail sales next door to Texas. University of New Mexico economist Sarah S. Stith discusses the economic gains and social and medical costs with the Dallas Fed’s Pia Orrenius and Keighton Hines.
January 31, 2022
COVID-19 brought to the fore the world’s dependence on semiconductors. Tyson Tuttle, who retired in January as CEO of Austin-based Silicon Labs and remains on its board, discusses the chip shortage and how the 2021 Texas freeze contributed to it. He also reflects on Austin’s ascension as a technology hub.
January 6, 2022
Big metro areas on the coasts—especially those in California—have led a surge of migration to Texas since COVID-19’s onset. Dallas Fed Senior Research Economist Yichen Su discusses what moves folks to come to Texas and how he used credit report data to document it.
September 30, 2021
Texas community colleges are among the U.S. leaders in helping keep the workforce skills current, Opportunity America President Tamar Jacoby explains in a discussion with Dallas Fed Senior Economist Pia Orrenius.
September 30, 2021
Workplace change, once thought to take a decade or more, became reality during the COVID-19 economic dislocation, Tamar Jacoby, president of Opportunity America, tells Dallas Fed Senior Economist Pia Orrenius.
August 16, 2021
Legal immigrants, eligible to receive COVID-19 assistance, didn’t seek help at a rate most others did. Senior research economist Wenhua Di discusses why that happened.
August 3, 2021
Petrochemicals, used in a range of goods and even foods, will remain tight into 2022 following last February’s historic freeze, senior economist Jesse Thompson says.
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About the Host
Pia M. Orrenius
Orrenius is a vice president and senior economist in the Research Department at the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas.