TEXAS ECONOMY - You’ve probably heard it before, but if Texas were a country, it would have the ninth largest economy in the world. In short: business is booming in Texas. So what does all this economic activity look like in practice? Alexandra Suich-Bass is a reporter for The Economist. She recently told the Texas Standard that in order to make sense of the Texas economy, you have to pay attention to two major developments. The first is a big boom in energy, as in oil and gas, but she also said Texas has invested heavily in green renewable energy development.
“There's also been a huge influx of federal money as a result of the Biden administration's policy through the Infrastructure Act, Inflation Reduction Act and the CHIPS Act,” Suich-Bass said.
And the second major development is a business friendly climate. Suich-Bass says “From 2020 to February of this year, we saw at least 139 firms move their headquarters to Texas.”
Companies are attracted by lower taxes and lower-property costs in Texas compared with their former state locations. There’s also something about having a central location in the United States. And of those companies relocating headquarters to Texas, 40% are coming from California.
