The Economic Perspective 10/16/2026
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Happy Friday!
Hello and welcome back to another edition of the Economic Perspective! And happy World Food Day! This UN-recognized holiday may not be the most well-known, but serves as a reminder to make healthy, less wasteful, and environmentally-conscious choices with our food. You can read more about what steps you can take to end hunger here, and learn more about World Food Day here!
This week, exciting news has come out of the world of economics! Two U.S. economists, Robert E. Hall and Michael Woodford, have won the 2026 Nobel Prize for Economics for their work on New Keynesian Models, which helped build a stabilization framework for central banks and finance ministries to use after the 2008 recession. Their models helped governments steer away from a second recession and recover, and their status as Nobel Laureates reflects the importance of their work to the world. We commend you, Robert and Michael!
Our articles this week cover federal diesel policies, federal highway project drone restrictions, a potential data center moratorium in Broward County, and more. Our Data Visualization covers construction project spending across the U.S.
White House Targets Federal Diesel Policies
On October 5th, President Trump issued an executive order directing the US Dept of Treasury to temporarily modify federal diesel tax requirements. While the order does not suspend the taxes, it directs the Dept of Treasury to enable the use of red-dyed diesel in vehicles on public roadways through December 31st along with the deferment of payment of federal diesel excise tax obligations. The dyed diesel is used to mark diesel as exempt from federal taxation but restricted to off-road use. The tax deferral potentially risks significant funding constraints to the Highway Trust Fund (HTF) as $10 billion in diesel taxes were collected for the HTF in Fiscal Year 2025. Read more about the executive order here, here, and here.
FHWA Releases Further Information on Drone Restrictions
The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) released policy guidance and FAQs on current restrictions on select foreign-made unmanned aircraft systems (drones) on federal-aid highway projects. As of now, federal funds are still prohibited from being used to purchase “covered” drones, a restriction that primarily targets Chinese-made drones. The American Road & Transportation Builders Association has been advocating for some drones to be grandfathered into the ruling, but as of now the FHWA has not disclosed information on this. Read more about the new information here and previous rule information release here.
Heavy Crude Glut in Americas Splits Oil Market, Higher Freight Fees to Blame
Heavy crude oil has begun piling up in the U.S. and Canada despite diesel prices soaring, in large part due to the cost of freight. Supertankers, often used to transport diesel exports to Asia, Europe, and other markets, have quintupled in price since February near the beginning of the conflict in Iran. While this has caused a glut in American oil stocks, refineries are attempting to maximize production capacity to benefit from the increased price of diesel, climbing to a 28-year high of 93.5% capacity as a weekly average. While Canadian output is also high, Washington State has needed to release over 130 million barrels of its emergency reserve. Read more here.
Over 2 Million Invasive Green Crabs Caught in Washington
Last year, from July 2025 to June 2026, more invasive green crabs were captured on Washington shores than the state had ever seen – over 2 million, more than every year since they were discovered in 1998, combined. One of the world’s most destructive invasive species, European green crabs consume as much juvenile salmon, native crabs, and other shellfish as they can, threatening the states’ seafood industry. The crabs thrive in warmer waters, and with this year’s El Niño weather pattern, researchers at the Department of Fish and Wildlife expect a “bumper crop” of the crabs this winter, further harming native Washington sea life. Read more here.
Moratorium on Data Centers in Broward County Moves Ahead
This week, Broward County Commissioners are set to discuss a moratorium on data centers. The proposal, put forth by Commissioner Lamar Fisher, would place a temporary, one-year ban on large-scale data centers being constructed in unincorporated Broward County. Broward would not be the first county to do so, with Palm Beach, Leon, Martin, and Manatee counties having put their own moratoriums in place, and the City of St. Petersburg having fully prohibited data center construction. These moratoriums are fairly recent as well, with Manatee County's moratorium having passed last week. Read more here.
Data Visualization of the Week
Year-over-Year Construction Contracts in August
According to the American Road & Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA), August 2026 saw $8.8 billion in new construction projects compared to $13.8 billion in August 2025. The states that saw the largest declines in construction projects were Hawaii, Massachusetts, Texas, Illinois, and South Carolina. In comparison, 24 states saw increased construction spending, with the highest gains in Wisconsin, Colorado, Kentucky, Michigan, and Oklahoma. Some of the largest declines came from major projects that began last year and had been pushing contract spending upwards. Read more here. Image courtesy of ARTBA
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