David Swenson, associate scientist, was interviewed for a March 20 Gazette story, "Eastern Iowans get a break on Gasoline Prices."
“Just about two weeks ago, Saudi Arabia got into an oil war with Russia. The Saudis are playing chicken with the rest of the oil producers in the world. They can produce oil for as low as $15 a barrel. Nobody else can produce oil at that price and still make a profit. They are trying to drive out of business or constrain production of any other oil producer, including frackers in the United States. It also will include Iraq, Iran and especially the Russians.”
This story also covered in Telegraph Herald, March 30
Storm Lake Times
He was also interviewed in the March 26 Quad-City Times story, "Weekly jobless claims surge in Iowa, Illinois as coronavirus idles workers."
Dave Swenson, an economist and professor at Iowa State University, called Thursday’s numbers “unprecedented” for a one-week spike. He said the average Iowa monthly unemployment during the Great Recession, so 2007 to 2009, increased to 47,000, and Iowa just saw nearly 42,000 claims filed last week alone.
And in the March 27 Quad-City Times, story "Coronavirus hits supply chains, likely longer-lasting effect on manufacturers." “I would imagine that there are a lot of plants in the United States that have burned up a lot of their inventory and are very, very worried because they don’t have access to their regular supply chains,” said Dave Swenson, an economist and Iowa State University professor. “And that includes the European Union, which is right now in the midst of this crisis — Italy, Spain, Germany — those were also key manufacturers, and that could also be affecting manufacturing. We have the supply chain problem as a consequence of COVID-19, and that’s going to last for a while.”
Swenson was also interviewed by Donnelle Eller, Des Moines Register, about which industries and areas of the state could be potentially most affected by Covid-19 economically.
And Tyler Jett, Des Moines Register, about the sharp spike in national and Iowa unemployment insurance claims.
And by Tom Cullen, Storm Lake Times, about expected spring flooding on the Missouri and Mississippi, and whether those consequences would seriously worsen the economic impact of Covid-19.