ABSTRACT
The macro economy can often be finite in nature: as such, growth in one community can easily portend decline for their neighbors. Increasingly, the forces that generate local and regional economic changes will be global in their origins, meaning that global wins could yield local losses. The issue of dependency in Houston is simply that dramatic fluctuations in the prices that control that 38 percent, while better, is still high enough to affect the entire economy of the region, and even the State of Texas. The petroleum and petrochemical industries have been large parts of the Houston economic base since the early part of the twentieth century. The conclusion must be that cities and regions must take steps to diversify their economic bases while they are on top rather than waiting for a crisis to which they have to respond; build momentum and economic development before the growth curves indicate impending issues.
