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Experts to present 2012 economic forecasts for Ariz., US


Professor Lee McPheters
November 22, 2011

When will unemployment drop, the housing market improve and the stock market stabilize? We’re ending another tough economic year and hoping for some positive answers. Top experts on the United States and Arizona economies will present their 2012 forecasts at the Valley’s largest and most trusted economic-forecasting event on Dec. 7.

The 48th Annual Economic Forecast Luncheon is co-sponsored by the Department of Economics at ASU’s W. P. Carey School of Business and JPMorgan Chase. More than 1,000 people are expected to attend to hear the latest on jobs, real estate prices, the volatile stock market and other timely issues.

“Arizona’s economy bottomed out this year, although we continue to face headwinds that will affect growth in 2012, such as Euro problems, our own fragile national economy, credit markets and the housing hangover,” says Lee McPheters, research professor and director of the JPMorgan Chase Economic Outlook Center at the W. P. Carey School of Business. “However, based on the latest trends, it looks like 2012 will be better than this year, and it could even be quite a bit better.”

Presentations will include forecasts on:

• Arizona and the regional economy from McPheters, who is also editor of the prestigious Arizona and Western Blue Chip Economic Forecast publications

• The U.S. economy from John B. Taylor, professor and the George P. Schultz Senior Fellow in Economics at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution, who served as undersecretary of the treasury during President George W. Bush’s first term and on the President’s Council of Economic Advisers for President George H. W. Bush

• The financial sector from Anthony Chan, chief economist for private wealth management at JPMorgan Chase & Co., who served as an economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, appears monthly on CNBC and is a member of the Reuters, Bloomberg and Dow Jones weekly economic indicator panels

• Real estate and construction from Elliott D. Pollack, chief executive officer of Elliott D. Pollack and Company, a highly regarded Scottsdale-based economic and real estate consulting firm.

The 48th Annual Economic Forecast Luncheon will take place from 11:15 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., Dec. 7, in the Phoenix Convention Center’s West Ballroom. Admission is $90 per person. Proceeds are used to support student scholarships, faculty research, and other academic and professional activities in the Department of Economics through the W. P. Carey School of Business.

For more information, including registration details, go to wpcarey.asu.edu/efl or call (480) 965-3531.