2025 State of the Commonwealth: Virginia’s Key Issues & Opportunities

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Each year, the Dragas Center for Economic Analysis and Policy at Old Dominion University releases a State of the Commonwealth Report that reviews the Virginia economy and contributes to discussions about the future outlook for Virginia residents. The report seeks to tackle foreseen difficulties head-on and provide information that can be used to inform policy decisions to improve economic situations for all stakeholders.

Dr. McNab will discuss the Commonwealth of Virginia’s economy through various factors that affected the state in 2024 and will continue to be pressing into future years. The discussion will be structured around the following critical points: an overview of the national economy, the state economy, and regional economies within the commonwealth, how changes in federal employment will impact Virginia, and the value of attending college in Virginia.

Learn more about Dr. McNab below.

Bob McNab, Ph.D.
Chair of the Department of Economics and Director of the Dragas Center for Economic Analysis and Policy and in the Strome College of Business at Old Dominion University

Professor Robert M. McNab currently serves as the Chair of the Department of Economics and Director of the Dragas Center for Economic Analysis and Policy and in the Strome College of Business at Old Dominion University.

He is a member of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia’s Survey of Professional Forecasters and is an Associate Editor with the Journal of Economic Surveys. Professor McNab has published in Applied Economics, Cornell Hospitality Quarterly, Defense and Peace Economics, National Tax Journal, Public Budgeting and Finance, and World Development. From 2018 to 2022, he was a member of the Joint Advisory Board of Economists for the Commonwealth of Virginia,

He edits the annual State of the Region: Hampton Roads and State of the Commonwealth reports Professor McNab has appeared in the Associated Press, China Global Television Network, CNN, Newsweek, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Yahoo News, Yahoo Finance, Richmond Times-Dispatch, Virginian Pilot, and Daily Press, among others.

Dr. McNab joined the faculty of the Department of Economics in the Strome College of Business of Old Dominion University in July 2016 and previously was a member of the faculty of the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California from 2000 to 2016.

eREMI: A Structural Approach to Long-Term Economic & Demographic Forecasting

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eREMI is a tool that provides a wide range of organizations with the necessary data to conduct long range planning, regional competitiveness showcasing, regional research, and more. With projections extending to 2060, eREMI offers organizations a structural, data-driven approach to understanding long-term regional and national demographic and economic trends.  

For over 40 years, REMI has provided dynamic macroeconomic analysis to policymakers, researchers, and private organizations. eREMI provides our refined forecast to organizations without the need for policy analysis, delivering county-level forecasts demonstrating how regional economies are interconnected with national trends.  

This session will explore the methodology behind eREMI’s structural approach to forecasting, key macroeconomic and demographic indicators included in eREMI, how MPOs, state DOTs, EDCs, private organizations, and universities use REMI’s forecast for strategic planning, and the value of transparent, publicly available data in long-term economic analysis

This webinar will provide a comprehensive overview of how eREMI can enhance your forecasting capabilities, whether you’re a planner, economist, or decision-maker looking for reliable, long-term insights.  We hope you will join!

Trump Immigration Policy: Using the REMI MRUS Model

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This webinar shows how the REMI Multiregional U.S. (MRUS) model is used to evaluate the state and regional impacts of national policies, focusing on immigration.  Various immigration policies put forward by incoming President Trump are likely to significantly reduce the net level of international immigration into the U.S.  National, state, and local governments need to understand the potential effects of restrictive immigration on their jurisdiction’s economic and fiscal conditions.  

To evaluate the effect of national policies on state and regional economies, analysts need an economic model that breaks out sub-national economies while still representing the entire U.S. macroeconomy.  The REMI MRUS model is built from regional economies that add up to the U.S.  Using this model, we will show the potential impacts of reduced net immigration imposed as a national policy, with specific state-level effects and economic interactions among the states. 

Trump Tariffs: Impacts on State and Local Economies

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In light of potential massive increases in tariffs, state and local-level policymakers are interested in understanding the implications for their economy. The REMI Multiregional U.S. (MRUS) model integrates a region that encompasses the entire U.S. economy, and upgrading a REMI model to an MRUS model allows states to conduct state-level economic impacts of national policy. It also enables REMI users to properly model and compare the economic effects of national policies, such as tariffs, between different regions. National monetary policy closures in MRUS models allow users to represent Federal Reserve monetary policy responses. State-level tariff policy modeling demonstrates the impacts of industry protection, price changes along the supply chain, consumer prices, and dynamic behavioral responses to price changes.  

In this session Dr. Frederick Treyz and Chris Judson will demonstrate how the REMI MRUS model can explore the sector-specific and regional impacts of tariff policies. Current REMI clients and anyone interested in tariff policy analysis are encouraged to attend.   

Economic Impacts of Brownfields Cleanup and Reuse

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Join us for an insightful webinar on the Economic Impacts of Brownfields Cleanup and Reuse, where we will explore how restoring and redeveloping these underutilized, often contaminated properties can significantly boost regional economies. Brownfields increase the costs of development, which may make the land completely unviable to developers. However, when these sites are cleaned up and returned to productive use, they present a tremendous opportunity for community revitalization, job creation, and increased property values.

In this webinar, we will dive into the economic benefits of brownfield remediation using the REMI PI+ model, a powerful tool for evaluating regional economic impacts. Our experts will demonstrate how this dynamic modeling software can help quantify the positive effects of cleanup efforts, such as new investment, job growth, and improved public health outcomes. We will further discuss how the redeveloped lands can promote industry growth in regions that retains and expands the workforce. Whether you are a policymaker, developer, or community advocate, this session will provide valuable insights into how transforming brownfields can drive economic growth and sustainability.