August 23, 2006
"Emerging business Realities:
Nanotech, Boomers, Trade Deficits & Hospitality"
Conference Program
| 8:00 a.m. | Registration & Breakfast | |
| 8:30 a.m. | Words of Welcome | H. Fenwick Huss Dean J. Mack Robinson College of Business |
| 8:35 a.m. | Can U.S. Trade Deficits Derail the Global Economy? » The global economy is in the midst of its fourth successive year of robust growth. But trade imbalances--the U.S. deficit and counterpart surpluses in China and elsewhere --loom as a threat. Will reducing them prolong the good times? Or does the recent market turbulence indicate a global 'hard landing'? Prakash Loungani presents the IMF's global forecasts and discusses what policymakers in the U.S. and elsewhere can do to reduce the risks to the growth outlook. |
Prakash Loungani Advisor International Monetary Fund |
| 8:55 a.m. | Nanotechnology: Small Matter, Many Unknowns » Nanotechnology provides the promise of major advances in materials,electronics, pharmaceuticals, chemicals, and other fields, but also may pose risks to people and the environment. |
Kurt Karl Head of Economic Research and Consulting, North America Swiss Re |
| 9:15 a.m. | Some Unpleasant Facts on Social Security and Medicare finances » The public percieves that the finances of the two federal programs will be sound for at least a couple of decades, thanks to current surpluses invested in trust funds. Dr. Jeske argues that the day of reckoning is much closer than we think, forcing the federal government to hike taxes sharply or cut benefits substantially between the years 2015 and 2020 for social security and as early as 2010 for Medicare. |
Karsten Jeske Economist Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta |
| 9:35 a.m. | Life Near the Peak: Atlanta's Hotel Market »Woodworth will address recent trends in the Atlanta hotel market, which lagged the nation as a whole in the recovery and once again is one of the leading hotel markets. How long will this last? | R. Mark Woodworth Executive Vice President PKF Consulting |
| 10:10 a.m. | Q&A | |
| 10:25 a.m. | Refreshments break | |
| 10:40 a.m. | Forecast of the Nation, State and Region | Rajeev Dhawan Director Economic Forecasting Center J. Mack Robinson College of Business Georgia State University |
| 11:30 a.m. | Q & A Conclusion | |
| 11:40 a.m. | Light lunch & Networking |
Cancellation Policy: To cancel your registration and be eligible for a refund, call the Economic Forecasting Center at 404-413-7260 before 4pm the day before the conference. A stop payment of a check does not constitute a formal cancellation. Registrants who do not attend the conference and have not cancelled one day prior to the conference are liable for the entire registration fee but will be mailed conference materials.
Substitution Policy: If an annual subscriber cannot attend the conference, another person from the same company can substitute in the subscriber's place.
Industry Speakers
| Prakash Loungani Advisor International Monetary Fund  |
An economist by training, Prakash Loungani is Advisor in the IMF's External Relations Department. His work experience includes stints at the Federal Reserve Board in Washington D.C, the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, and the University of Florida. His research interests include: assessment of macroeconomic forecasting performance; understanding trade linkages among nations and regions; modeling the impact of oil prices on the macroeconomy. This research has been published in both academic journals (including Journal of Monetary Economics, Review of Economics and Statistics, Journal of Applied Econometrics and International Journal of Forecasting) and in various policy outlets and newspapers (such as Financial Times). Loungani received a B.A. in Economics from the University of Bombay (India) and a Ph.D in Economics from the University of Rochester. |
| Kurt Karl Head of Economic Research and Consulting Swiss Re  |
As head of Swiss Re's Economic Research and Consulting, North America, Kurt E. Karl is responsible for North American "sigma" publications on topical, global insurance and risk management issues. In addition, he supports strategic planning for global insurance and reinsurance markets, provides internal consulting on products and economic risks and forecasts the U.S. and global economies. Dr. Karl is an expert on the U.S. insurance market, specializing in financially-related products and emerging risks. Prior to joining Swiss Re, Dr. Karl was chief international economist at WEFA, Inc., an economic forecasting firm located near Philadelphia. He has a B.A. from the University of Oregon, a M.Sc. from the London School of Economics and a Ph.D. from Princeton University. |
| Karsten Jeske Economist Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta  |
Dr. Karsten Jeske is an economist in the Research Department of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta where he helps prepare FOMC briefings for the bank president. He is also a visiting economics professor at Emory University. Dr. Jeske's academic research has analyzed the viability of social security in the long run, the optimal supply of health care and implicit government guarantees in the mortgage finance market. He has published in the Economic Review of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, the Journal of Political Economy and has been quoted in the Wall Street Journal. Dr. Jeske did his undergraduate degree at the University of Bielefeld in Germany and received an M.A. and Ph.D. in Economics at the University of Minnesota. |
| R. Mark Woodworth Executive Vice President PKF Consulting  |
Mr. Woodworth is an Executive Vice President PKF Consulting, Inc. Mr. Woodworth has over 25 years of hospitality industry experience in both a consulting and hands-on operational capacity.Mr. Woodworth is responsible for the firm's hospitality consulting in the South. Before joining HAAI, Mr. Woodworth was a Partner and Chairman of the Hospitality Industry Consulting practice for Coopers & Lybrand L.L.P and Senior Principal with Laventhol & Horwath. Mr. Woodworth has served as a hospitality properties expert in litigation in New York, Georgia, Alabama and Texas. Mr. Woodworth holds both a B.S. and M.A. from Cornell University's School of Hotel Administration. He also served on the faculty of the Center for Professional Development at Cornell for 12 years. |
