Game changers for the economy

The McKenzie Global Institute has released a report on big changes that could have enormous positive impacts for our economy. N.C. State University economist Mike Walden explains.

“These people are always thinking …, and they’re always trying to think ahead … and … (looking) in a very detailed way at our economy. They identified five areas that they think can be big game changers that can really boost our economy in the future.

“First is domestic energy development. They argue that by 2020, that could add up to $700 billion to our economy if we really pursued domestic energy development.

“Second is increasing exports from our manufacturing and farm industry, as we are becoming much more competitive in those two areas. Our exports have increased. … Again, they argue by 2020 we could see increases there at about $600 billion to our economy.

“Third is using modern analytics and the increasing availability of data to improve efficiencies in businesses. This … has to do with cloud computing, for example. They say that could add more than $300 billion.

“And then fourth is infrastructure. We need a lot of new bridges, a lot of new roads. They’re old. Some are unsafe. Another $300 billion could be added to the economy if we work on those.

“And then lastly, talent. They argue if we make some small changes then on average, (we) would improve the educational attainment of children, of young people, by one grade level … by 2020. That could add over $100 billion to our economic output.”