Regional update : high energy prices spur economy despite growing labor shortages

National income ; Employment ; Construction industry ; Manufacturing industries ; Housing - Prices ; Maquiladora

Toward a systems understanding of plant–microbe interactions

Plants are closely associated with microorganisms including pathogens and mutualists that influence plant fitness. Molecular genetic approaches have uncovered a number of signaling components from both plants and microbes and their mode of actions. However, signaling pathways are highly interconnected and influenced by diverse sets of environmental factors. Therefore, it is important to have systems views in order to understand the true nature of plant–microbe interactions. Indeed, systems biology approaches have revealed previously overlooked or misinterpreted properties of the plant immune signaling network. Experimental reconstruction of biological networks using exhaustive combinatorial perturbations is particularly powerful to elucidate network structure and properties and relationships among network components. Recent advances in metagenomics of microbial communities associated with plants further point to the importance of systems approaches and open a research area of microbial community reconstruction. In this review, we highlight the importance of a systems understanding of plant–microbe interactions, with a special emphasis on reconstruction strategies

Oil and gas rises again in a diversified Texas

The oil and gas industry has been a driver of the Texas economy for the past 40 years. Its contribution declined with the oil-led recession of 1986 and appeared to slip further in the 1990s as the high-tech industry boomed. But oil and natural gas prices have risen since 1999, reaching record highs in 2008. This resurgence has boosted energy activity and factored into the recent economic recovery in Texas, affirming the industry’s long-held prominence in the state. ; An econometric model developed by the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas documents the state’s evolving energy fortunes since the late 1990s. It shows that the industry is still contributing positively to Texas output and employment, though in a less-pronounced way than during the prior oil boom 30 years ago.Energy consumption ; Employment ; Prices ; Texas

Coal, natural gas and oil markets after World War II: what's old, what' s new?

Power resources

Energy security: a comparison of protectionist policies

Power resources

Texas economy stalled by recession

Recessions

Bad news from the oil patch: why the rig count is depressed

Power resources - Prices

The interest rate sensitivity of Texas industry

A key factor in forecasting a region's growth is anticipating how a region will respond to changes in national policy. One important way national policy affects a region is through real interest rates. Forecasting regional growth, therefore, requires good estimates of the interest rate sensitivity of regional industries. In this study, Lori Taylor and Mine Yucel use vector autoregression analysis to examine the relationship between changes in real short-term interest rates and changes in Texas industry employment. They find that while a few industries are moderately sensitive to interest rate movements, most Texas industries are insensitive to changes in real interest rates. Moreover, they find that Texas total nonagricultural employment is insensitive to changes in real interest rates. As such, their analysis suggests that real interest rate movements influence the composition of Texas employment rather than its level.Interest rates ; Texas

Evaluating the Eleventh District's Beige Book

In this study, Nathan Balke and Mine Yucel ask whether the Eleventh Federal Reserve District's Beige Book description contains timely information about economic activity within the District. They examine whether the Beige Book description tracks current Texas real gross state product (GSP) growth and current Texas employment growth. They also study whether the Beige Book has information about growth not present in other regional indicators that would have been available to analysts at the time of the Beige Book's release. They find that both the Beige Book summary and the average across sectors reflect Texas GSP and employment growth very well. These two measures of the Beige Book also have predictive content for one quarter ahead GSP growth. Balke and Yucel also find that the Eleventh District's Beige Book has information content for Texas economic activity over and above other state economic indicators such as Texas employment growth, personal income, or sectoral employment growth. Because the Beige Book is released at least one month earlier than employment data and at least two years before GSP data, its timeliness makes it a good tool for current regional economic analysis.Employment (Economic theory) ; Unemployment ; Economic indicators

Oil prices and U.S. aggregate economic activity: a question of neutrality

Considerable research finds oil price shocks have had major effects on U.S. output and inflation. Several recent studies argue that the response of monetary policy-rather than the oil price shocks themselves-caused the fluctuations in economic activity. Stephen Brown and Mine Yucel show that an oil price increase will lead to a decline in real GDP and an increase in the price level that are of a similar magnitude if the federal funds rate is unconstrained-a finding consistent with the definition of monetary neutrality in which nominal GDP is constant. Brown and Yucel also find that holding the federal funds rate constant in the face of an oil price increase is an accommodative policy that boosts real GDP, the price level, and nominal GDP. In short, the monetary authority can use accommodative policy to cushion the negative effects of higher oil prices on real GDP, but at the expense of higher inflation.Power resources - Prices ; Gross domestic product ; Inflation (Finance)