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2020 Economic Outlook

Experts to Discuss Financial Forecasts Nov. 12 at Annual Ohio Wesleyan Conference

DELAWARE, Ohio – Three experts will share their forecasts for the local, national, and international economies during Ohio Wesleyan University’s 2020 Economic Outlook Conference. The free panel discussion will begin at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 12 in Benes Room B of OWU’s Hamilton-Williams Campus Center, 40 Rowland Ave., Delaware.

Panelists for this year’s Economic Outlook Conference are:

Bill LaFayette, Ph.D., the owner of Regionomics LLC. His central Ohio company focuses on local economies including their businesses, people, workforce, and growth and change. With nearly 25 years of experience as an economic advisor, LaFayette helps clients to address financial issues within their communities. He also is an adjunct instructor in the master’s degree program of The Ohio State University’s John Glenn College of Public Affairs. Previously, he served as vice president of economic analysis for the Columbus Chamber of Commerce.

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Mark Schweitzer, Ph.D., senior vice president at the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland. Schweitzer’s work has focused on the macroeconomic impact of labor market developments and the identification of factors contributing to regional economic growth. In addition to working at the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, he has served as a senior economist at the Bank of England and as vice president and branch executive of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City’s Denver Branch. He earned his master’s and doctoral degrees in economics from the University of California at Los Angeles.

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Ian Sheldon, Ph.D., Andersons Chair for Agricultural Marketing, Trade and Policy in the Department of Agricultural, Environmental and Development Economics at The Ohio State University. Sheldon’s primary research involves analyzing international trade and policy. Sheldon has been an associate editor and editor of the American Journal of Agricultural Economics, and he was the first featured articles editor for Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy. He earned his doctorate in economics at the University of Salford in the United Kingdom.

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During the OWU conference, each expert will speak for 15 minutes and then take questions from the audience and from panel moderator Goran Skosples, Ph.D., Ohio Wesleyan associate professor of economics. Skosples, who joined the Ohio Wesleyan faculty in 2006, encourages students to relate each lesson to current events to help them understand the underlying importance of government economic policies in their daily lives. His research deals with institutional changes in post-communist countries of Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, banking and credit, and small business finance.

Ohio Wesleyan’s annual Economic Outlook Conference is co-sponsored by the university’s Department of Economics and Business and by its Woltemade Center for Economics, Business and Entrepreneurship. Learn more at www.owu.edu/economics or www.owu.edu/woltemade.

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Founded in 1842, Ohio Wesleyan University is one of the nation’s premier liberal arts universities. Located in Delaware, Ohio, the private university offers more than 90 undergraduate majors and competes in 25 NCAA Division III varsity sports. Through Ohio Wesleyan’s signature OWU Connection program, students integrate knowledge across disciplines, build a diverse and global perspective, and apply their knowledge in real-world settings. Ohio Wesleyan is featured in the book “Colleges That Change Lives” and included in the U.S. News & World Report and Princeton Review “best colleges” lists. Learn more at www.owu.edu.