What: UTEP’s Border Region Modeling Project will review recent regional economic trends and provide insights on what to expect in 2017 and 2018 during the 12th Border Economic Forum.
When: 2 – 3:30 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 10, 2017
Where: Blumberg Auditorium on the first floor of the University Library at UTEP.
Employment, demographics, residential real estate and international commerce are some of the topics that will be discussed during the upcoming Border Economic Forum at The University of Texas at El Paso.
Tom Fullerton, Ph.D., director of UTEP’s Border Region Modeling Project (BRMP), will be among the featured speakers at the invitation-only event that attracts leaders and analysts from private industry, public utilities and municipal governments.
Fullerton, professor of economics, will offer highlights from the Borderplex Economic Outlook to 2018, released by the BRMP in December 2016. The presentation will summarize short-term forecasts for the region generated by a 250-equation econometric computer model maintained by the BRMP.
He plans to share information about housing and retail sales in El Paso, Texas; personal income in Las Cruces, New Mexico; and international manufacturing in Juárez and Chihuahua City, Chihuahua, Mexico.
“A lot of research goes on at UTEP, and this conference will review a substantial amount of information regarding the regional economy,” Fullerton said.
Patrick Schaefer, executive director of UTEP’s Hunt Institute for Global Competitiveness, will open the event with a review of highlights from the recently released Energy Sector Review for the Paso del Norte region. This first-of-its-kind report examines the area’s wealth of energy resources and the degree to which the region and the rest of the continent relies on them.
BRMP economist Adam Walke will follow that with an overview of the key indicators and recent developments that have been observed for the regional economy. Among other things, Walke will discuss recent trends in business cycles, labor markets, international trade, and the peso/dollar exchange rate.
The BRMP is supported by El Paso Water, the City of El Paso Office of Management and Budget, and various programs affiliated with UTEP’s College of Business Administration.