Clemson’s Bruce Yandle’s Economic Situation Report Released
A fixture the in the Carolinas, Dr. Bruce Yandle released his quarterly Economic Situation Report.
Yandle prospects for 2018 were positive. “These can be summarized in a simple statement: if you felt good about 2017, you should look forward to 2018,” he wrote. “In other words, don’t expect to see major changes in the nation’s basic economic indicators. I do not expect policy or other changes to meaningfully affect labor productivity or the size of the workforce. This means that I expect real GDP growth to continue to plow along at a slightly improved 2.3 to 2.5 percent average.”
Dr. Bruce Yandle
Yandle is a Distinguished Adjunct Fellow for the Mercatus Center at George Mason University and former executive director of the Federal Trade Commission. He authored the report with Dr. Patrick A. McLaughlin, director of the Program for Economic Research on Regulation and a Senior Research Fellow at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University; and Jonathan Nelson, a Program Associate for the Program for Economic Research on Regulation at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University.
Dr. Patrick McLaughlin
On the policy front, Yandle expects significant changes impacting the economy. He expects Congress to pass some significant tax changes, specifically corporate rate cuts and personal income tax rates. “These cuts will stimulate economic activity and their effect will be reinforced by White House–led reductions in regulations that penalize economic growth,” Yandle wrote.
McLaughlin also contributed an update on North Carolina, “North Carolina in the Spotlight.” McLaughlin reported that North Carolina has enjoyed solid economic growth. “North Carolina is among the nation’s strongest manufacturing states, ranking 4th nationwide in manufacturing’s share of GDP,” McLaughlin wrote. In 2016, manufacturing accounted for 19.3 percent of the state’s GDP, as compared with the nation’s 11.8 percent.
View the Economic Situation Report
