Texas continues to grapple with a persistent challenge: providing accessible and high-quality child care at an affordable rate, as outlined in a recent policy brief by researchers at the LBJ School of Public Affairs at The University of Texas at Austin. The current shortfall not only affects working families but also impedes the state’s economic growth.

Steven Pedigo gives us his take in a recent essay in the New York Times titled "Texas is the Future of America." He is the founding executive director of the LBJ Urban Lab and a professor of practice at the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin.

"As goes Texas, so will the United States — for better or for worse," writes LBJ Urban Lab Director Steven Pedigo in a guest essay in the New York Times. His analysis looks at Texas's influx of citizens, its economy, its rapidly changing demographics, its approach to business and the politics its leaders are practicing — and predicts its influence on the rest of the country.