CALIFORNIA PANELISTS

Esmael Adibi, director of the A. Gary Anderson Center for Economic Research and Anderson Chair of Economic Analysis at Chapman University, received his doctorate degree in Economics from Claremont Graduate University.

His research interests include macroeconomics, financial markets, and regional economics. Dr. Adibi has co-authored two textbooks, Econometric Analysis - An Applications Approach, and The Practice of Econometrics with EViews. His articles have been published in newspapers including The Los Angeles Times, and the Orange County Register, as well as professional journals such as International Advances in Economic Research, the Journal of Private Enterprise, and the Quarterly Journal of Business and Economics.

Dr. Adibi is past president of the Association for University Business and Economic Research. He is a member of the NABE Outlook Survey Panel and Western Blue Chip Economic Forecast Panel. He serves on the board of directors of SchoolsFirst Federal Credit Union, and is a member of California Controller's Council of Economic Advisors.

Justin Garosi has been an economist at the California Legislative Analyst’s Office since 2008. He has previously been a senior economist with the Arizona Joint Legislative Budget Committee and has taught economics at North Dakota State University. He has a PhD in economics from the University of Michigan.

Dr. Jeffrey Michael is Director of the Business Forecasting Center at the University of the Pacific. Jeff's areas of expertise include regional forecasting and environmental economics including work on the economic impacts of the endangered species act, climate change, and regulation on land use and property markets. His research has received numerous grants, been published in scholarly journals and received local and national press coverage including the Wall Street Journal, New York Times Magazine, Washington Post, NPR, CNN and PBS. Before coming to Pacific in 2008, Dr. Michael was years at Towson University in Maryland where he served as faculty, Associate Dean, and Director of the Center for Applied Business and Economic Research. Jeff received his Ph.D. from North Carolina State University, and B.A. from Hamilton College (N.Y.).

Jerry Nickelsburg joined the UCLA Anderson Forecast in 2006 as an economist. At the Anderson Forecast he plays a key role in the economic modeling and forecasting of the Los Angeles, Southern California and California economies. He has conducted special studies into the future of manufacturing in Los Angeles, the distribution of income, the economic impact of the writer’s strike, the aerospace industry, the undocumented construction and manufacturing labor force, the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach and the garment industry, focusing on the development of new data and the application of economic theory and statistical methods to sectoral issues. His current academic research is on organizational and individual learning in manufacturing, and the influence of power groups on the balance of trade. He is a regular presenter at the Los Angeles Mayor’s Economic Conference and has been cited in the national and local media including the Financial Times, New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Reuters, Variety, CNBC, NBC, PBS, and L.A. Business Journal.

Yas Nishiyama is an Assistant Professor of Economics at Woodbury University. Prior to joining the Woodbury University faculty, he was an economist at Bank of America and, after leaving the Bank, taught at State University of New York, Binghamton, and Pennsylvania State University. He holds an M.A. and an M.S. both from Virginia Tech and a Ph.D. from University of California, Berkeley.