Taking the Pulse of the U.S. Economy
A Conference for High School Faculty
June 10–11, 2008
Dallas Fed

The performance of the U.S. economy is the story of the day. Many questions have been raised. What signs of renewed stability reside in the financial markets? How close is a full recovery from the subprime mortgage fallout? Are inflationary pressures mounting or declining? Is the stage set for economic expansion or contraction?

The 2008 Economic Summit, Taking the Pulse of the U.S. Economy, addressed those questions as well as additional factors impacting the economy. Sessions also provided suggestions for classroom activities.

Specific topics included:

• U.S. Economy Overview
• Fiscal Developments and Their Economic Implications
• Challenges in Financial Markets
• Rise and Fall of Subprime Mortgages
• Immigrants in the U.S. Economy: A Host-Country Perspective
• Regional Economic Outlook
• Critical Issues in Energy
• The Role of the Dollar
• Monetary Policy: A New Tool
• Acheiving Affordable Healthcare for All

Agenda

= password-protected PDF

Tuesday, June 10
8:00 a.m.		Registration
8:30 a.m.		Breakfast
8:50 a.m.		Welcome
9:00 a.m.		Review of the U.S. Economy
		Evan Koenig, Vice President and Senior Policy Advisor
9:45 a.m.		A Perspective on the Dollar
		Mark Wynne, Vice President Director, Globalization and Monetary Policy Institute
10:30 a.m.		Break
10:45 a.m.		Rise and Fall of Subprime Mortgages
		Danielle DiMartino, Economics Writer
11:30 a.m.		Challenges in the Financial Markets
		Jeffery Gunther, Assistant Vice President and Senior Economist
12:15 p.m.		Lunch: Achieving Affordable Health Care for All
		Camille Miller, President and CEO Texas Health Institute
1:30 p.m.		Content in the Classroom: Macro View
		Anne Macy, Gene Edwards Professor of Finance West Texas A&M University
2:30 p.m.		Immigrants in the U.S. Economy: A Host Country Perspective
		Pia Orrenius, Senior Research Economist and Advisor
3:15 p.m.		Bank Tour (optional)
Wednesday, June 11
8:30 a.m.		Breakfast
9:00 a.m.		Fiscal Developments and their Economic Implications
		Jason Saving, Senior Research Economist
9:45 a.m.		Monetary Policy: A New Tool
		Kenneth J. Robinson, Research Officer, Financial Industry Studies
10:30 a.m.		Break
10:45 a.m.		Back in the Classroom: Micro View
		Anne Macy
Noon		Lunch (open discussion)
1:00 p.m.		The Texas Economy
		Fiona Sigalla, Economist
1:45 p.m.		Critical Issues in Energy
		Stephen P. A. Brown, Assistant Vice President Director of Energy Economics and Microeconomic Policy Analysis
3:00 p.m.		Adjourn

About the Speakers

Stephen P. A. Brown
Assistant Vice President
Director of Energy Economics and Microeconomic Policy Analysis
Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas
Brown joined the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas in 1981 after working as an energy economist for Brookhaven National Laboratory and teaching economics at several universities. He is currently an adjunct professor of economics at Southern Methodist University and Tulane University. Brown has authored numerous articles appearing in such publications as Economic Inquiry, Review of Regional Studies, Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance and The Energy Journal, among others. Brown holds a B.S. in economics from California Polytechnic State University and an M.A. and a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Maryland.

Danielle DiMartino
Economics Writer
Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas
DiMartino researches and writes about the national housing, mortgage and financial markets. Her recent work includes “From Complacency to Crisis: Financial Risk Taking in the Early 21st Century,” coauthored with Dallas Fed Director of Research Harvey Rosenblum and Vice President and Senior Policy Advisor John V. Duca, and “The Rise and Fall of Subprime Mortgages” with Mr. Duca. DiMartino worked for the Dallas Morning News from 2003 to 2006 as a business columnist. Her daily column on the economy and financial markets garnered a worldwide following. DiMartino also was a vice president at Credit Suisse in New York from 1996 to 2002, working in fixed-income, equity and private-equity sales. At the firm, she wrote a weekly market commentary that was distributed to over 300 CEOs and CFOs nationwide. DiMartino was a College of Business Scholar at the University of Texas at San Antonio, earning a B.B.A. She holds an M.B.A. in finance and international business from UT–Austin and an M.S. in journalism from Columbia University.

Jeffery Gunther
Assistant Vice President and Senior Economist, Financial Industry Studies
Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas
Gunther is an assistant vice president and senior economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, where he conducts and directs analysis of financial institutions and the supervisory framework in which they operate. Gunther’s work focuses on supervisory policy issues of particular concern to the Federal Reserve. He has authored numerous related articles for publication in both academic and Federal Reserve journals, and he is a primary architect of statistical models used at the Federal Reserve to identify emergent banking problems. Gunther received a Ph.D. in economics from Southern Methodist University.

Evan Koenig
Vice President and Senior Policy Advisor
Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas
Koenig oversees macroeconomic research and analysis in the Dallas Fed’s Research Department, briefs the Bank’s president and directors on national economic conditions, and writes articles for Bank publications and scholarly journals. He joined the Dallas Fed in 1988 after teaching at the University of Washington. Koenig’s research focuses on explaining and predicting movements in prices, output and employment, particularly as these movements are affected by monetary policy. His articles have appeared in such publications as the Quarterly Journal of Economics, Review of Economics and Statistics and Journal of Public Economics. He is also an adjunct professor of economics at Southern Methodist University. Koenig holds B.A. degrees in mathematics and economics from the University of Wisconsin and a Ph.D. in economics from Harvard University.

Anne Macy
Gene Edwards Professor of Finance
Department of Accounting, Economics and Finance
West Texas A&M University
Macy teaches finance and investment courses at West Texas A&M and frequently speaks at financial and economic education seminars. She is widely published in such journals as the Economics and Economic Education Research Journal, Southwestern Economic Review and Journal of Entrepreneurship Education. Macy is the recipient of numerous distinguished research and outstanding professor awards. She serves on the editorial review board of the Institute of Finance Case Research and the Academy for Economics and Economic Education. She is secretary/treasurer for the Southwestern Society of Economists and an active member of the Texas Council on Economic Education. Macy holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of South Dakota and master’s and Ph.D. degrees in economics from Texas Tech University.

Camille Miller
President and CEO
Texas Health Institute
Miller has headed the nonprofit Texas Health Institute in Austin since its inception in 1996. She served under two governors and two lieutenant governors, a state comptroller and state senator, developing state policy to address health and human services issues. She also held executive staff positions at the Texas Department of Community Affairs and the Texas Department of Protective and Regulatory Services. As chief of staff for the Texas Senate Committee on Health and Human Services, she supervised legislative interim studies on medically fragile children, reorganization of health and human services and Medicaid. Miller serves on the boards of numerous organizations. She is current chair of the State Health Policy Centers Collaborative and is chair-elect of the National Network of Public Health Institutes. Miller holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in sociology and social work.

Pia Orrenius
Senior Research Economist and Advisor
Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas
Orrenius is a senior research economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. As a labor economist, she analyzes the regional economy, with special focus on the border region. Orrenius’ research also focuses on the causes and consequences of Mexico–U.S. immigration and trade, illegal immigration and U.S. immigration policy. Orrenius spent the 2004–05 academic year as senior economist on the Council of Economic Advisers in the Executive Office of the President, advising the Bush administration on labor, health and immigration issues. Orrenius holds a Ph.D. in economics from the University of California at Los Angeles and B.A. degrees in economics and Spanish from the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign.

Kenneth J. Robinson
Research Officer, Financial Industry Studies
Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas
Robinson has been with the Dallas Fed since 1986, specializing in macroeconomics as well as money and banking. His current research focuses on how financial structure, monetary policy and economic activity affect U.S. financial markets. He has published articles in academic journals that include the Journal of International Money and Finance, Journal of Financial Services Research and Journal of Macroeconomics. Robinson holds a B.S. from the University of New Orleans, an M.S. from Louisiana State University and a Ph.D. from Ohio State University.

Jason Saving
Senior Research Economist
Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas
Saving joined the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas in 1996, following a one-year postdoctoral fellowship at George Mason University. As a senior research economist at the Dallas Fed, Saving conducts research on state and national public policy issues. He has written on entitlement programs, European economic integration, welfare reform and other topics relevant to economic growth. His articles have appeared in such journals as Economic Inquiry, Southern Economic Journal and Public Choice. He holds a B.A. in mathematical economic analysis from Rice University and an M.A. and a Ph.D. in economics from the California Institute of Technology.

Fiona Sigalla
Economist
Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas
Sigalla is a regional economist at the Dallas Fed. In this capacity, she helps prepare briefing material for the Bank president prior to Federal Open Market Committee meetings and is responsible for production and writing of the Beige Book. Sigalla leads the team that produces the Texas Manufacturing Outlook Survey and writes the monthly release. She also conducts economic research and is a regular contributor to the Bank’s publications, including Southwest Economy. Sigalla received a B.A. in economics and political science from the University of Washington and an M.S. in applied economics from the University of Minnesota.

Mark Wynne
Vice President
Director, Globalization and Monetary Policy Institute
Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas
Wynne’s primary research interests are in monetary economics and macroeconomics, and he has published in many leading professional journals. Wynne is director of the Dallas Fed’s recently established Globalization and Monetary Policy Institute. He has taught at the University of Rochester and Southern Methodist University and is an academic board member of the Open Republic Institute in Dublin, Ireland. During 1997–98, Wynne worked on issues related to monetary policy strategy under economic and monetary union for the European Monetary Institute and, later, the European Central Bank. Wynne holds B.A. and M.A. degrees from the National University of Ireland (University College Dublin) and an M.A. and a Ph.D. from the University of Rochester.