Tennessee Showing Signs Of Economic Recovery Wednesday, December 16, 2020 - by Erin Hatfield, UTK Larry Kessler, research associate professor in UT’s Boyd Center for Business and Economic Research and project director for the 2021 Economic Report to the Governor of the State of Tennessee Positive economic growth is expected over the next year for Tennessee, although it may be rocky and somewhat sporadic as the state digs out of the recession brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. The state’s economic forecast is explored in a report released Wednesday by the Boyd Center for Business and Economic Research at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, but the cautiously optimistic outlook comes with a caveat.