Innovation, eds & meds are our future

HOUSTON – Towards the end of March 2015, the United States Census Bureau published the latest population estimates for metro areas and counties.

When the energy industry booms, we expect the population numbers to follow suit. The same goes for a bust. With oil prices so low, will migrants stop coming to Texas?

For 2010–2014, Houston, Dallas and Austin (in that order) were the top three for net domestic migration. Some have suggested, notably economist Paul Krugman, that the oil and gas industry is driving the trend.

Houston is not all oil and gas. Home to the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, the city is a world-class medical cluster.

Instead of technologies making production more efficient, knowledge makes labor more productive and able to work later in life.

For an era of demographic decline, such innovations are critical to maintaining economic growth. Such innovations will continue to draw migrants to the Lone Star State, despite the stiff headwinds of low oil prices.