| CBER has produced forecasts of economic activity
in Alabama since 1980. These forecasts cover Gross State Product,
employment, and income by industry group and are published in the
annual Alabama Economic Outlook.
Forecast updates are run quarterly. The current economic summary
is Second
Quarter 2008.
The Center hosts an annual Economic
Outlook Conference held in Montgomery. The 2009 Conference
will be January 23 at the Renaissance Montgomery Hotel. Sponsors
for the 2008 Conference were Alabama Industrial Development Training,
Alabama Power, Alabama Small Business Development Consortium, BlueCross
BlueShield of Alabama, Boeing Company, Business Council of Alabama,
Compass Bank, Honda Manufacturing of Alabama, Hyundai Motor Manufacturing
Alabama, Mercedes-Benz U.S. International, Sterne, Agee & Leach,
Inc., and Vulcan Materials Company.
Dennis Lockhart, President and
Chief Executive Officer, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, was the
keynote speaker. Nigel
Gault, Managing Director of North American Macroeconomic Service,
Global Insight, presented the United States Outlook.
CBER and Compass Bank have formed a strategic partnership, Compass
on Business. The partnership was forged to be a source of leading-edge
information and trends on the economy, with a particular focus on
small- and medium-sized businesses. The elements of Compass
on Business include forums throughout the year in
Alabama's four largest markets, periodic publications, and linked
web pages. As a part of Compass on Business, Compass has teamed
up with CBER, the University of Arizona, the University of Colorado,
and the University of Texas at Austin to provide a measurement of
how local business leaders view specific economic factors within
the context of their own state as well as on a national level.
The measurement is called the
Compass Business Leaders Confidence Index® and is compiled
quarterly.
CBER uses economic and statistical modeling and analysis techniques
in funded research projects.
Examples of Center projects include:
- Economic Impact of Retail Electric Competition in Alabama
- Telecommunications in Alabama: Economic Analysis of Changes
in Property and Utility Taxation
- Greenhouse Gas Inventory and Policy Planning to Reduce Greenhouse
Gas Emissions
- Economic Impact of the Construction Industry in Jefferson
County
- Economic Impact of the Coalbed Methane Industry
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