February 27, 2025
Economic Forecasting Webinar
- Will the Fed undertake ALL its promised rate cuts in 2025?
- Do Trade Deficits help or hurt economic growth?
- What are the emerging clusters of growth in Georgia?
- How to view tariffs from a growth perspective?
- What do state migration patterns imply for the housing market?
Date: Thursday, February 27, 2025
Time: 9:00 am – 12:00 pm
Location: ONLINE via Webex
Price: $75 (click here for discount pricing & details)
Speakers
- Rajeev Dhawan
- Professor & Director
- Economic Forecasting Center
- J. Mack Robinson College of Business
- John Hunt
- President
- ViaSearch/MarketNsight
- Mike Alexander
- Chief Operating Officer
- Atlanta Regional Commission
- Patrick Barkey
- Director of Research
- BBER, University of Montana
Conference Program
| 9:00 a.m. | Welcome & Housekeeping | |
| 9:05 a.m. | Words of Welcome | Richard Phillips Dean J. Mack Robinson College of Business |
| 9:10 a.m | Life After Fed Rate Cuts and the 2024 Election Will rates continue to rise or will they fall in 2025, and what effect will they have on housing demand? What will be the fallout from 2024's election cycle? Join us as we look at the housing market in 2025 and beyond. |
John Hunt President ViaSearch/MarketNsight |
| 9:30 a.m | Navigating the Future: Metro Atlanta’s Growth Potential Mike Alexander, COO of the Atlanta Regional Commission, will explore the long-term growth prospects of Metropolitan Atlanta, delving into demographic shifts, challenges in housing supply, and evolving transportation infrastructure needs. Learn how the region’s diversity, economic shifts, and infrastructure demands will shape its future. He will focus on the economic implications of the strategies being implemented to address these challenges and secure a sustainable and equitable path forward for Metropolitan Atlanta. |
Mike Alexander Chief Operating Officer Atlanta Regional Commission |
| 9:50 a.m | Can Housing Be Fixed? The Affordability Crisis in Montana Warren Buffett reportedly said that when the tide goes out you can tell who has been swimming naked. In the case of Montana, a state that arrived later to the migration-fed population boom than Boise or Salt Lake, the unpleasant truth that the Covid in-migration surge exposed was the chronic underbuilding of residential housing. New arrivals with deeper pockets didn’t notice the price surges as much as Montanans who already lived here, who quickly found homeownership, or even just keeping their apartment, fading from their reach. And it has left them asking: how do we fix it? |
Patrick Barkey Director of Research BBER, University of Montana |
| 10:10 a.m. | Q & A for speakers | |
| 10:25 a.m. | Break & Networking | |
| 10:35 a.m. | Economic Outlook Update (Nation & Georgia) Rajeev Dhawan delivers his keynote presentation on the economic outlook of the United States, Georgia and the Atlanta Metro Region. Join us as he shares his views on the state of the global economy as well as employment and consumption trends and their impact on the industry in Georgia. He will discuss, in particular, the implications for residential and commercial real estate in the Atlanta Metro Region. |
Rajeev Dhawan Zwerner Chair of Economic Forecasting & Director Economic Forecasting Center J. Mack Robinson College of Business |
| 11:45 a.m. | Q & A | |
| 12:00 p.m. | Closing Remarks and Adjourn |
Chief Economist responsible for risk mitigation by updating senior management to potential revenue loss, including quarterly economic updates to the CFO to prepare for earnings calls. Second, develop and deploy analytics to improve risk metrics, market opportunities and pricing solutions of our worldwide businesses. This includes forecasts of economic activity across 170 countries including GDP, wages, inflation, market opportunity indicators, and a Foreign Exchange forecast. Additionally, provides scenario analysis and custom research to our CFO and CEO. Finally, Mike supports IBM sales operations with focused presentations at customer events and peer to peer meetings.Projects: internal tax and tariff scenario modeling, and inflation scenarios. Worked with Arvind Krishna while modeling and writing pages 188-193 in the 2018 IMF document 
Emin joined Insight as a Senior Economist in March 2023, mainly focusing on US macro coverage. He has direct ownership of Insight’s US and Canadian economic forecasts, as well as working with his team to deliver a consistent set of global economic forecasts and thematic views. Prior to Insight, Emin was an Economist with Mastercard Economics Institute. He previously held a position at Wellington as a macro and thematic researcher and started his career in 2005. He holds a MS in Finance degree from London Business School and is also a CFA charterholder.
