News Briefs

The NABE Board of Directors has selected William A. Strauss to fill the unexpired term of Patrick Casey, who resigned from the board because his promotion at TTX Company vastly increased his workload. The board appreciates Casey’s service to NABE. Strauss, senior economist and economic adviser at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, was the next highest vote getter in the 2006 NABE elections. He is active in the Chicago Association for Business Economics, the local NABE chapter, of which he is a past chapter president.

Sign up for the next NABE Outlook Teleconference scheduled for Monday, Feb. 26 at 11:00 a.m. EST. Speakers will include: John Silvia, Wachovia Bank; Lynn Reaser, Bank of America; and Charles Steindel, Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Register on our secure server at https://secure.icglink.com/nabe/outtel.html.

NABE’s Manufacturing Roundtable will host a teleconference Friday, Feb. 16 from 11 a.m. to noon on “The Fallout from a Falling Dollar.” Speakers will be: Frank Vargo, National Association of Manufacturers, and Jeff Werling, University of Maryland INFORUM. Lloyd Nace, American Standard, will be the moderator. Register on our secure server at https://secure.icglink.com/nabe/mantel.html.

Mark your calendar for NABE’s 2007 Annual Meeting in San Francisco Sept. 9-11. The theme is “Global Integration and the Pacific Partnership” and it will be held at the Grand Hyatt in San Francisco. Janet Yellen, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, will be the opening keynote speaker and the FRB will host a reception on Monday evening. See details as they emerge at www.nabe.com.

Call for Contributed Papers: As a NABE member, you are encouraged to participate actively in the NABE Annual Meeting in San Francisco on Sept. 9-11, 2007. How? By submitting a paper for the NABE Edmund A. Mennis Contributed Papers Award. There is a $1,000 prize for the best paper. See guidelines in Business Economics and on the website at http://www.nabe.com/publib/beguide.htm.

April 1st is the deadline to submit nominations for the 2007 Julius Shiskin Memorial Award for Economic Statistics. Contributions are recognized for statistical research, development of statistical tools, application of information technology techniques, use of economic statistical programs, management of statistical programs, or developing public understanding of measurement issues. A nomination form and a list of all previous recipients are available on the ASA website at www.amstat.org/sections/bus_econ/shiskin.html or by writing to the Julius Shiskin Award Committee, Attn: Monica Clark, American Statistical Association, 732 North Washington Street, Alexandria, VA 22314-1943. For further information contact Steven Paben, Julius Shiskin Award Committee Secretary, at paben.steven@bls.gov.

The January 2007 NABE Industry Survey has received excellent media coverage since its release on Jan. 22, according to NABE press officer Melissa Golding. Main survey spokesman Ken Simonson, chief economist at the Associated General Contractors of America, did interviews about the survey with Associated Press Radio, CNN Radio, the Wall Street Journal Radio Network, Bloomberg Radio, Bloomberg TV, the Chicago Tribune, and Voice of America Radio. Survey committee member Gene Huang, chief economist for FedEx, was interviewed for a Bloomberg News article. This year marks the 25th anniversary of the NABE Industry Survey, first published in 1982.

NABE hosted two sessions at the ASSA meeting in Chicago on Jan. 5-7. The sessions covered current trends and issues in the American labor market and measurement, implications, and policy analysis. NABE President Carl Tannenbaum, LaSalle Bank/ABN AMRO; Board Member Catherine Mann, Peterson Institute; and Kevin Kliesen, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, organized the sessions. For the list of distinguished speakers and session locations, see http://www.nabe.com/publib/assa2007.html.