Economic outlook conference set for March 16

Financial market projections, international economic trends, and the growth of business in Wisconsin and the Midwest will be topics at an executive briefing Friday, March 16, at the Fluno Center for Executive Education.

Four prominent economists will explore the current economic situation and predict how various sectors will perform in the next 12 months.

The semi-annual Economic Outlook, which runs from 8:30 a.m. to 3:15 p.m., provides up-to-date economic information and projections to help plan for the future. The speakers and their topics are:

• Irving Leveson, ForecastCenter.com and Leveson Consulting, presenting the international economic outlook. Leveson formed ForecastCenter.com in 1999 to disseminate forecasts and analyses to business and professional audiences through a Web site and electronic newsletter. He was director of economic studies at the Hudson Institute where he advised major companies and government agencies. He has held senior positions at the New York City Health Services Administration and New York Planning Commission and conducted studies at the RAND Corporation and the National Bureau of Economic Research.
• David Ingram, Economy.com, will discuss the outlook for the U.S. economy. Prior to joining Economy.com, Ingram designed models for many countries. He was responsible for managing the current-quarter forecast and core macroeconomic forecast for the U.S. economy using a 840-equation U.S. macro model.
• David Hale, global chief economist for the Zurich Group and its investment affiliates, will present Perspectives on the Economy 2001. Hale advises the Zurich Group’s domestic and global fund management operations on the economic outlook and a wide range of public policy issues. He joined the group following its acquisition of Kemper Corporation, where he was chief economist. He is a member of a variety of government and private sector economic policy research groups in Washington, Tokyo and Bonn.
• Don Nichols, professor of economics and public policy, and director of the La Follette Center for Research on the Wisconsin Economy, UW–Madison, will examine the outlook for Wisconsin and the Midwest economies. Since earning his Ph.D. at Yale in 1968, Nichols has focused his research, teaching, and publications on unemployment, inflation, and regional economic growth. He has served as economic advisor to the Governor of Wisconsin, chair of the Economics Department, senior economist of the Committee on Budget of the U.S. Senate, deputy assistant secretary of Labor for the U.S. Department of Labor, and member of the Wisconsin Governor’s Council of Economic Affairs. A prolific writer and nationally recognized speaker, Nichols is well known for his record of accurate forecasts given at Economic Outlook conferences.