TEMPE, Ariz. — Despite talk of economic recovery in the United States, many people here in Arizona are still wondering when we’ll finally see some significant improvement. Top experts on both the U.S. and Arizona economies will present their forecasts for 2011 at the Valley’s largest and most trusted economic-forecasting event.

The 47th Annual Economic Forecast Luncheon, co-sponsored by the Department of Economics at Arizona State University’s W. P. Carey School of Business and JPMorgan Chase, will be held Dec. 1. More than 1,000 people are expected to attend the popular event. Unemployment, real estate prices and the volatile stock market are just some of the issues that will be covered this year.

“The recession in Arizona has been over for more than a year, but we still haven’t seen the liftoff we need to move into growth,” says Research Professor Lee McPheters, director of the JPMorgan Chase Economic Outlook Center at the W. P. Carey School of Business. “The Western states are lagging behind the rest of the nation in this recovery, but at least Arizona is among the strongest in a relatively weak group.”

Luncheon presentations will include forecasts on:

• Arizona and the regional economy from McPheters, who is also editor of the prestigious Arizona and Western Blue Chip Economic Forecast publications.
• The U.S. economy from Joel L. Naroff, president of Naroff Economic Advisors, recipient of the 2008 Lawrence R. Klein Award for economic-forecasting accuracy, Bloomberg Business News’ 2008 forecaster of the year, and MSNBC.com’s 2006 forecaster of the year.
• The financial sector from James Glassman, managing director and senior economist for JPMorgan Chase & Co., who is frequently cited by the financial media and who previously served in various research divisions at the Federal Reserve Board in Washington, D.C.
• Real estate and construction from Elliott D. Pollack, chief executive officer of Elliott D. Pollack and Company, a highly regarded Scottsdale-based economic and real estate consulting firm.

The 47th Annual Economic Forecast Luncheon will be held at the Phoenix Convention Center South Ballroom from 11:15 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Dec. 1. Admission is $85 per person. Proceeds are used to support student scholarships, faculty research, and other academic and professional activities in the Department of Economics through the W. P. Carey School of Business.

For more information, including registration details, go to http://wpcarey.asu.edu/efl.

W. P. CAREY SCHOOL OF BUSINESS
The W. P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University is one of the top-ranked and largest business schools in the United States. The school is internationally regarded for its research productivity and its distinguished faculty members, including a Nobel Prize winner. Students come from 99 countries and include 60 National Merit Scholars. For more information please visit wpcarey.asu.edu and http://knowledge.wpcarey.asu.edu.