TACOMA, Wash. — The outlook for the Northwest’s economy over the next three to six quarters will be the subject of the Northwest Economic Outlook Symposium 2001, to be held here Wednesday, Nov. 14.
Cynthia Latta, principle U.S. economist for DRI-WEFA, will be the main speaker. DRI-WEFA is the nation’s pre-eminent economic forecasting and consulting firm, says Gary Smith, Pacific Northwest Regional Economic Conference president and a Washington State University agricultural economist, Puyallup.
Latta manages the DRI-WEFA macroeconomic model and forecast and conducts customized analyses of clients’ concerns.
Smith says DRI-WEFA will release its national forecast a week before the Tacoma meeting. The forecast will become part of the basis for Washington’s Office of Forecast Council’s forecast and part of the basis for the Governor’s Council of Economic Advisor’s economic and revenue forecasts, which will be announced at 10 a.m., Nov. 14.
The Tacoma meeting will be attended by economists, analysts, policy makers, government decision makers and business leaders.
Meetings will be held in Tacoma’s Landmark Convention Center. On the program with Latta will be a panel of leading economic forecasters for Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington and the central Puget Sound. They are:
- Paul Polzin, director of the Center for Business and Economic Research, University of Montana
- Michael Ferguson, chief economist, Idaho Division of Financial Management
- Tom Potiowsky, chief economist, Oregon Office of Economic Analysis
- Bret Bertolin, senior economist, Washington State Office of the Forecast Council
- Dick Conway, president, Dick Conway & Associates, Seattle.
Check-in will begin at 11 a.m., lunch at 11:30 a.m. and the program at noon.
The symposium is sponsored by the Pacific Northwest Regional Economic Conference, Olympia Economist Club, Washington State University, Seattle Economist Club and Tacoma Pierce County Researchers Roundtable.
More information is available on the World Wide Web at http://www.pnrec.org/.
To register call 1-800-942-4978, or mail in the form available on the Web site. A $25 fee includes lunch.
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