Researcher Says Pandemic Will Have "Drastic" Impact On Reservation Economies

The Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapaho Tribes' casinos have been shut down for weeks due to the COVID-19 pandemic. And they're not alone. Across the country, more than 500 tribal gaming enterprises have closed their doors. That means an abrupt loss of revenue for tribal governments, which, unlike cities and states, don't have a tax base to fall back on.

Economist Joseph Kalt is with Harvard University's Project on American Indian Economic Development. In a letter this week, he and his research partners urged U.S. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin to consider the needs of tribal nations while disbursing funds from the CARES Act. He told Wyoming Public Radio's Savannah Maher that without substantial aid from the federal government, the pandemic could set back more than 30 years of economic progress in Indian Country.

https://www.wyomingpublicmedia.org/post/researcher-says-pandemic-will-have-drastic-impact-reservation-economies