The secret to Texas growth isn’t what you think

Sept. 19, Pia Orrenius, Senior Fellow at SMU’s Texas-Mexico Center (and co-author Madeline Zavodny) for a piece explaining how the Texas economy maintains business growth and labor sources, especially from Mexico. Published in the Dallas Morning News under the heading The secret to Texas growth isn’t what you think: https://bit.ly/3CowPNy

The Texas economy consistently grows faster than the nation’s. Since emerging from the 1980s oil bust, the state outpaces national growth rates. Sure, experts may point to a large and diverse economy and booms in fracking and exports, but those factors only begin to explain the success.

The secret to Texas’ growth lies in its ability to generate as well as attract businesses, and to draw and retain the workforce needed to power them. Such business dynamism and worker magnetism add up to what some call the Texas Miracle.

In a recent study published by the SMU Texas-Mexico Center we look at this question using Census Bureau data on households and business dynamism spanning 2006-18.

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