Southwest Economy, Third Quarter 2020
COVID-19’s fiscal ills: busted Texas budgets, critical local choices
COVID-19 and related economic shutdowns have raised concerns that state and local government revenues will fall short of expectations just as demand for services soars.
September 21, 2020
Global Perspectives: Mike Leavitt on health care costs and higher education
The U.S. health care system is uniquely innovative, but it is also arguably uniquely inefficient. Health outcomes in the U.S.—whether measured in terms of simple metrics such as life expectancy or more sophisticated ones such as quality-adjusted life years—do not seem commensurate with health care expenditures.
April 23, 2019
Not everything Is bigger in Texas: The varied fortunes of four smaller metros
While Texas’ major metropolitan areas power the bulk of the state’s commercial activity, some smaller metros have worked to establish their place as part of the state’s economic mosaic.
February 21, 2019
Global Perspectives: Maya MacGuineas on stabilizing the federal debt
A good measure of a nation’s ability to repay its obligations is the ratio of the stock of indebtedness to the flow of output produced in a given year. In recent years, this ratio has increased for the U.S. government, raising new questions about how the nation manages a debt burden that is approaching an all-time high.
February 07, 2019