Speaking of the Economy

Jay Langston discusses how rural communities in western Virginia have diversified the region from agriculture into pharmaceutical and other forms of manufacturing. Key ingredients of this economic progress include developing the local workforce, building relationships between local and state economic development organizations, and addressing quality-of-life issues. Langston is executive director of the Shenandoah Valley Partnership.
Full transcript and related links: https://www.richmondfed.org/podcasts/speaking_of_the_economy/2026/speaking_2026_08_05_shenandoah_valley

Daniel Davis talks about the barriers that rural communities face in fully realizing their economic potential and how economic development professionals have addressed those barriers. He also shares insights on this topic from the speakers at an Investing in Rural America webinar in June 2026. Davis is group vice president for regional economics at the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond.
Full transcript and related links: https://www.richmondfed.org/podcasts/speaking_of_the_economy/2026/speaking_2026_07_15_rural_econ_dev

John Bailey Jones and Jason Kosakow discuss their research on how family members and friends give their time and money to help each other and how these transfers benefit households. Jones is vice president of microeconomic analysis and Kosakow is survey director, both at the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond.
Full transcript and related links: https://www.richmondfed.org/podcasts/speaking_of_the_economy/2026/speaking_2026_07_08_helping_hands

John O'Trakoun discusses the supply shocks resulting from the recent conflicts in the Middle East and how businesses and consumers have responded to these shocks. O'Trakoun is a senior policy economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond.
Full transcript and related links: https://www.richmondfed.org/podcasts/speaking_of_the_economy/2026/speaking_2026_07_01_supply_shocks

Urvi Neelakantan describes how employment, income growth and consumption can differ between groups of households and reviews recent trends in this divergence of economic outcomes. Neelakantan is a senior policy advisor at the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond.
Full transcript and related links: https://www.richmondfed.org/podcasts/speaking_of_the_economy/2026/speaking_2026_06_17_k-shaped_economy