[ economy ]
Navigating
Our Economy
West Virginia’s
Challenges and
Opportunities
JOHN DESKINS
After several years of mostly bad news, West Virginia has
turned the corner, and much is looking up. Employment,
income and output are all growing, and numerous new invest-
ments have been announced. However, the state still has many
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WEST VIRGINIA EXECUTIVE
challenges that will impede economic prosperity. As such, as
West Virginians we should remain vigilant and work to over-
come our challenges through promoting industrial diversifi-
cation, fostering more of a pro-small-business culture and in-
vesting in human capital by improving education and health
outcomes and fighting our drug abuse crisis.
During the recent Economic Outlook Conference series,
hosted by the West Virginia University College of Business &
Economics’ Bureau of Business and Economic Research, key