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The report ranks Houston as the fourth best big U.S. city when it comes to economic performance during the recession. The Brookings Institution’s Alan Berube says there were several reasons for the high marks.
“The fact that A, the area didn’t get caught-up in the housing boom like a lot of other metropolitan areas did, especially along the coasts, and B, it may speak to the underlying strengths of sectors like energy, at least over the full course, the 15-months of the recession, was actually a good thing to specialize in because job losses there have not been very large.”
San Antonio topped the list, Austin was third and Dallas was fifth. Berube says economic policymakers should pay attention.
“Our goal here is to just keep, in Washington at least, national policymakers eye on the ball. I think the measure of national economic policy in stimulating a recovery isn’t just turning around the national GDP, it’s making sure that more metropolitan areas look like Texas metropolitan areas do right now over the long run.”
