Federal Reserve: B.R. took ‘glancing shots’ from recession

A business magazine published by the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta says Baton Rouge is “standing firm” in the face of the national recession. “If much of the nation suffered economic body blows in 2008 and early 2009, it appears that Baton Rouge took only glancing shots,” says the article in EconSouth. The article reiterates familiar reasons for this: The solid economic foundation of government, education and petrochemical jobs and the post-Katrina boom. But James Richardson, an LSU economics professor, brings up a couple of interesting points. For one, housing accounts for only a small part of the state’s economy, so the impact of the national real estate downturn has been lessened. The other is that the Capital Region is not a financial center, so the ongoing banking crisis hasn’t been as damaging here as in cities such as Charlotte, N.C., or Atlanta. Read the article here.