Southwest Economy Archive

• December 21, 2020
  Pandemic Unemployment Benefits Provided Much-Needed Fiscal Support

  Anil Kumar

  Enhanced unemployment insurance benefits implemented in response to the COVID-19 pandemic have helped buttress spending among the unemployed.
• December 21, 2020
  Energy Woes to Weigh on Houston Recovery, Local Economist Says
  Bill Gilmer, director of the Institute for Regional Forecasting at the University of Houston’s Bauer College of Business, assesses the effect of the energy industry problems on the Houston economy and provides an outlook for 2021.
• December 21, 2020
  Spotlight: Lower U.S. Crude Oil Production Decreases Output, Raises Price of Natural Gas

  Jesse Thompson and Camila Holm

  Natural gas futures plummeted to a historic low in June 2020 only to rebound by late October, mainly due to a decline in natural gas production from oil wells.
• December 21, 2020
  Go Figure: Loan Delinquencies Start to Climb After Falling with Stimulus and Relief

  Design: Olu Eseyin; Content: Wenhua Di and Carlee Crocker

  COVID-19 stimulus and loan relief helped Texas borrowers avoid falling behind on loan payments in 2020's second quarter.
• September 21, 2020
  President’s perspective
  President Kaplan shares recent thoughts on adopting average inflation targeting, additional fiscal policy and the importance of mask wearing.
• September 21, 2020
  COVID-19’s fiscal ills: busted Texas budgets, critical local choices

  Jason Saving

  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
  Texas economy mends in fits and starts from pandemic’s onslaught

  Christopher Slijk

  A resurgent COVID-19 outbreak in Texas has stymied a state economic recovery, according to the Texas Business Outlook Surveys and high-frequency data that document activity on a more granular level.
• September 21, 2020
  Looking to economics for help in addressing enduring discrimination
  Gary A. Hoover holds a President’s Associates Presidential Professorship and is chairman of the Economics Department at the University of Oklahoma in Norman. He specializes in policy analysis of income distribution and poverty, public finance and ethics in economics. He is the founding editor of the Journal of Economics, Race and Policy.
• September 21, 2020
  Energy sector slow to recover from malaise arising from effects of global pandemic

  Emma Marshall and Pia Orrenius

  After absorbing a big hit from the COVID-19 pandemic, the energy sector may take until 2022 to recover.
• September 21, 2020
  Vehicle sales highlight surprising resilience in spending during pandemic

  Design: Olu Eseyin; Content: Christopher Slijk, Chloe N. Smith

  Texas truck/SUV sales held steady while car sales declined steeply amid the recession caused by COVID-19.