Strong Native American economies can provide benefits to non-Native neighbors, according to new research that could give tribal communities seats at the economic development table that weren’t available before, according to UCLA Luskin’s Randall Akee. The research by the Center for Indian Country Development at the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis showed that Native economic well-being can spill over into surrounding areas, providing them with more business and wider access to federal contracts. These findings could impact policy discussions both on tribal and intergovernmental levels, Akee said during a webinar about the research covered by Tribal Business News. “We can see ourselves and our communities and our economies in the national picture, and start to assert ourselves in these discussions,” said Akee, a professor of public policy and chair of UCLA’s American Indian Studies Interdepartmental Program.