Economists To Gather In Spokane City Hosting Regional Conference For First Time Since 1982

A high-ranking official of the Federal Reserve Bank and DRI/McGrawHill’s chief economist are among the featured speakers as Spokane hosts the Pacific Northwest Regional Economic Conference this week.

Economists from throughout the Pacific Northwest will gather in Spokane Thursday through Saturday to participate in the region’s most prestigious annual economic conference. This year’s title is “Regions in Transition.”

“This is a great opportunity for a community,” says John Mitchell, chief economist for U.S. Bank, who chaired last year’s conference in Portland. “People have the chance to go listen to some big-name national speakers, along with the top business and academic economists of the region.”

“It is a major honor for WSU to be chosen to be the conference sponsor, and to have the conference held in Spokane,” says economist Randy Barcus, senior market forecaster for Washington Water Power Co.

“It provides people from four states and two provinces with some exposure to Spokane that many of them haven’t gotten before,” Barcus adds. “As a business economist, I think that’s very good because it gives people familiarity with Spokane that eventually can lead to positive economic developments for the community.”

The conference, now in its 31st year, will draw 150 academic and business economists from Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, British Columbia and Alberta. Sessions, beginning Thursday at 10 a.m., are at the Red Lion Hotel Spokane City Center.

Speakers this year include:

Jerry L. Jordan, president and chief executive officer of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, who will speak on “Government’s Role in Job Creation.”

Robert E. Brinner, executive director and chief economist of DRI/McGraw-Hill, based in Lexington, Mass. Brinner will speak on “Irrational Exuberance and the U.S. Business Cycle.”

Calvin L. Beale, senior demographer, U.S. Department of Agriculture Economic Research Service, will discuss “Forces Underlying the Recent Rebound of Rural Areas and Small Towns.”

Jack Ward Thomas, former U.S. Forest Service chief, will speak on “Stability in Resource Dependent Communities: Mission Impossible.”

Other topics at the conference include property tax initiatives, mine siting decisions, substate labor market trends, performance of Northwest equities, the economics of banning grass seed field burning, and the brown-to-green transition in the Pacific Northwest.

The conference was created in 1967 by Charles Tiebout, a professor of urban and regional economics at the University of Washington. The last time the conference was hosted in Spokane was 1982.

“I feel deeply in regard to bringing this conference to Spokane,” says conference chairman Gary Smith. “Bringing this confluence of the economic intelligence of an entire region to this area might help open a local dialogue on economic issues. That’s something I feel we really need here.”

Smith, an extension economist in WSU’s department of agricultural economy, adds that from a university perspective, the conference is an opportunity for WSU to help air issues that confront the region from an economic perspective.

“It’s pretty rare,” adds Barcus, “that this caliber of folks come to Spokane to address these kinds of subjects.”

, DataTimes