Special Briefing: America’s Growth Regions

The US economy’s extraordinary recovery since the darkest days of the COVID-19 pandemic has continued into the fall of 2025, with inflation retreating and the Federal Reserve cutting interest rates to keep jobs and investment humming along. Our expert panel will discuss where the economy is growing fastest—and less fast—and what this means for state and local budgets and finances.

Our panel of experts will include Rochester (Minnesota) Mayor Kim Norton, Georgia State Economist Robert Buschman, Fitch Ratings head of US State ratings Eric Kim, and PIMCO Senior Vice President Tom Schuette.

Moderated by William Glasgall, Volcker Alliance senior director, public finance and Penn IUR fellow, and Susan Wachter, co-director of Penn IUR, this briefing is the fifty-fifth in a series of sixty-minute online conversations featuring experts from the national research networks of the Volcker Alliance and Penn IUR, along with other leading academics, economists, and federal, state, and local leaders. 

Special Briefings are made possible by the Volcker Alliance and members of the Penn IUR Advisory Board.

Recordings of the entire Special Briefings series are available on the Volcker Alliance website: SPECIAL BRIEFING SERIES ARCHIVE.

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