Dallas Fed Chair Highlights Potential Upcoming Challenges for Texas' Economy

Robert Kaplan, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, recently spoke at the Urban Land Institute’s Emerging Trends event, highlighting demographic and financial challenges that may affect the metro's economic prosperity.

Kaplan pointed out two 'major economic tailwinds', according to UrbanLand. First, a favorable business climate and affordable cost of living have caused increased migration to the state, particularly North Texas. Secondly, the energy sector, a big employer in Dallas and Houston, is rebounding. Kaplan urged that the U.S. needs "to grow productivity and workforce participation by addressing demographic issues -- the widening skills gap and the aging labor force, among them," per Urban Land's reporting.

Kaplan said the recent tax bill signed by President Trump comes with positives and negatives. The reform portion that reduced corporate tax rates “will hopefully make U.S. companies more competitive...” he said. Kaplan expressed concerns about the tax cut portion of the bill, funded by increasing the nation’s deficit. In a nation at full employment, the tax cut stimulus will create a short-term bump in (GDP) that, when it trails off, will leave the country more leveraged than before, he said.

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