News Channel 9 had a story on the ongoing debate about the new city property tax rate and funding raises for police and firefighters. CRER director and chief economist Howard Wall had this to say: UTC economist Howard Wall says part of what’s complicating the budget is rising property values.“The tax rate is automatically lowered…
8/8/25: Audi Considers Chattanooga as Stateside Option to Avoid Trump Tariffs
Newschannel 9 did a story on a potential Audi factory in Chattanooga. CRER director and chief economist Howard Wall provided his take: “European companies also will face tariffs. I think currently, 15% is what they’ve negotiated, but all of this is open for exemptions for particular companies.” “They seem to be trying to expand the…
8/6/25: What’s the Impact? Chattanooga Braces as Trump’s Tariffs Hit Local Manufacturers
In a recent story on Local 3 News in Chattanooga, CRER director and chief economics Howard Wall provided his take on the effects of tariffs: “They make us poorer as consumers because we pay more for things. And for producers, they’re not good.” Wall went on to say, “If we do produce things that we didn’t, that…
7/31/25: UTC Chief Economist Talks Trump Tariffs at Rotary Club
President Trump has imposed high and wide-ranging tariffs with a goal of reducing the US trade deficit with the rest of the world. Channel 12 News covered a talk at the Chattanooga Rotary Club by CRER director and chief economist Howard Wall. He described why economists don’t view trade deficits a bad thing and see…
7/22/25: Which Chattanooga Area Sectors Grew, Shrank as Employment Dipped?
The Chattanooga Times Free Press examined a CRER analysis of new BLS data describing recent trends in Chattanooga employment and unemployment: The number of employees in the Chattanooga metro area fell slightly over the past year as private education and health jobs gained the most workers and the manufacturing sector lost the most. “That’s reflective of a…