INSIGHTS
Originally published in the Deseret News. Editor’s Note: Natalie Gochnour, David Eccles School of Business Associate Dean and Deseret News contributor, traveled with a delegation of business and community leaders on a trade mission led by the World Trade Center Utah to Israel and United Arab Emirates (UAE). Here is an insider’s look at what…
Prepared remarks by Natalie Gochnour upon receiving the 2021 Athena recognition. I want to thank the Salt Lake Chamber – Gary Porter, Derek Miller, Heidi Walker, the Board of Governors, and Utah business leaders – for this honor. I also want to thank my fellow Athenas, especially Molly, Linda, Chris, Deborah, Pat, and Peggy, for…
Originally published in the Deseret News. As the Tokyo Olympics take center stage, it’s natural for Utahns so ask, “Why should Utah do this again?” I think the answer is simple: Approximately a million people who live in Utah today were not here in 2002. That’s nearly one in every three residents. I want all…
Originally published in the Deseret News. Ninety minutes. That’s all it took. I gained a deeper understanding of how data informs an elected official’s thought process regarding racial and ethnic disparities in Utah. He, in turn, reviewed the data and considered how he might incorporate this data into policymaking. Both of us acknowledged the importance…
Originally published in the Deseret News. Interstate 15 south from Salt Lake City to St. George always looks familiar to a native Utahn like me. What was less familiar this weekend as I drove south to attend Utah’s inauguration ceremony was the digital highway signs that read: “Thank you Gov Herbert. Safe travels.” I passed…
Originally published in the Deseret News. Economist Natalie Gochnour is director of the Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute at the University of Utah and is an associate dean in the David Eccles School of Business. She has a long history of public service and continues to be a key economic advisor to state political and…
Originally published in Utah Business. Almost two years ago on NBC’s Meet the Press, presidential historian Doris Kearns Goodwin commented on the unrest in our country by saying: “The thing that worries me is that [when you] attack [America’s] institutions… you are really attacking the rule of law and the checks and balances… the worry is, do…
Originally published in Utah Business. Twenty-one years ago, I sat in a car in our nation’s capital with demographers from Illinois and Missouri. The head of the Population Division for the US Census Bureau had just picked us up from our hotel and we were driving across Key Bridge into Georgetown because we were in DC…
Originally published in the Deseret News. The economic pain from COVID-19 continues to build. Since late February, approximately 125,000 Utahns (8% of the workforce) have been furloughed or laid off. More job separations are certainly on the way. We are all asking, “When will the economic misery end?” Perhaps the most important insight regarding this question…
Originally published in the Deseret News. The onslaught of information about the coronavirus can do as much harm as good, particularly when it comes to the economy. In what some have called an “infodemic” Utahns like me are asking questions: How do I keep myself and the people I love safe? What sources of information…