Session 2: Gross Domestic Product and the National Accounts

Presentations

Shelly Smith, GDP and the National Accounts (PDF, 270 K)

NIPA Suggested Reading List (PDF, 108 K)

NIPA Summary Table, August 2005 (PDF, 1.45 MB)

Chained-Dollar Indexes (PDF, 128 K)

Ben Herzon, Using High-Frequency Data to Estimate GDP Growth in the Current Quarter (PDF, 55k)

Kathy Camilli, GDP and the National Accounts Case Study (PDF, 148 K)

Links of Interest

Bureau of Economic Analysis GDP Page

Speakers

parker Robert Parker

Robert Parker is a nationally and internationally recognized expert in economic accounting concepts and methods and in U.S. economic statistics. Since retiring from federal service in July 2005, he has been consulting on these topics with government, non-profit, and business clients. He retired from Federal service in July 2005 after 5 years as Chief Statistician of the Government Accountability Office. Previously he spent 30 years at the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) where served as Chief Statistician, Associate Director for National Economic Accounts, and Chief, National Income and Wealth Division. Prior to moving to BEA, he served 9 years at
the Census Bureau with responsibility for the Enterprise Statistics Program.

Mr. Parker was the recipient of the Butler Award (2000) given by the New York Association for Business Economics, and the Julius Shiskin Award for 1999. He received the Presidential Rank Award of Meritorious Executive (1998); the Department of Commerce Gold Medal Award (1996 and 1998). He was elected Fellow of the American Statistical Association in 1986.

Mr. Parker is currently serving as a member of a Committee on National Statistics panel on the Census Bureau’s State and Local Government statistics program and as a representative of the National Association for Business Economics to the Council of Professional Association for Federal Statistics. Previously he served for many years as a member of the Statistics Canada National Accounts Advisory Committee and the Federal Committee on Statistical Methodology.

Mr. Parker continues to be an author and editor of the statistics columns in Business Economics, NABE’s quarterly journal. He also has authored and co-authored many articles in the Survey of Current Business, BEA’s monthly journal.

Shelly Smith
Economist
Bureau of Economic Analysis

Shelly Smith is an economist with the National Income and Wealth Division (NIWD) of the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA), U.S. Department of Commerce (USDOC). She began working at BEA in May of 1997. At BEA, she serves as a member of the team responsible for the review and analysis of the quarterly gross domestic product (GDP) estimates. Prior to joining NIWD, Ms. Smith was an economist with the Federal Branch of BEA’s Government Division where she developed estimates of several components of the government accounts, including Federal Government spending on research and development and the current surplus of Federal Government enterprises.

Ms. Smith received her Masters Degree in Applied Economics from the Johns Hopkins University, and her Bachelor’s Degree in International Studies and in Economics from Frostburg State University in western Maryland.

herzon Ben Herzon
Macroeconomic Advisers

Ben joined Macroeconomic Advisers in June 1998 as a 'Mr.' and was upgraded to a 'Dr.' in May 1999 when he was awarded a Ph.D. in economics from Washington University in St. Louis. Ben's primary responsibilities at Macroeconomic Advisers involve utilizing monthly data to update MA's current-quarter forecast. This involves research into the construction of the National Accounts and modeling of interactions among monthly data series. Ben is a member of the National Association of Business Economics and a former member of the renowned rock group Lunker Buzz. Prior to his current stint with applied macroeconomics, Ben traveled the country in a Ford Econoline 150 with the band playing both known and unknown clubs for unconscionably low sums of money.

camilli Kathleen Camilli
President
Camilli Economics

Kathleen Camilli is one of the nation’s top economic forecasters and independent economists. Her firm, Camilli Economics, provides clients, including investment organizations, corporations, high net worth individuals and family offi ces, with “real world” economic guidance for smart business and fi nancial decisions. Building on her more than two decades of accomplished private and public sector experience, Ms. Camilli provides “on target” analysis on the workings of the U.S. economy and financial markets. Armed with a solid foundation of global macro/micro economic perspectives, she offers unique insight into complex issues and translates those into understandable, actionable ideas.

Known for her consistently accurate forecasting, Kathleen Camilli is one of the leading economists in the country today and has received top ranking from objective performance raters, including The Wall Street Journal, who named her one of the top fi ve economic forecasters two years in a row; Business Week, who named her the number one performing forecaster, and Institutional Investor.

Before founding Camilli Economics in 2004, Ms. Camilli was the U.S. Economist at Credit Suisse Asset Management (CSAM) in New York where she provided insight on the U.S. economy to the fi rm’s investment process overseeing $312 billion in fi xed income and equity assets globally. Before joining CSAM, she was Tucker Anthony’s Director of Economic Research for six years. During her career, she has worked as a money market economist at Drexel Burnham Lambert, and as a Fed-watcher at Chase Manhattan Bank. She began her career at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York where she trained as a practicing economist and was responsible for forecasting reserves for the Open Market Desk.

Kathleen Camilli received B.A. degrees in both Economics and French from Douglass College, Rutgers University. She studied at Universite de Laval, Quebec, Canada and Universite de Paris III, VII, France. She earned an M.B.A. in Finance and an M.A. in French Studies from New York University.

A frequent commentator, author and speaker, Kathleen Camilli is well known as a strong communicator and translator of complex issues into understandable, actionable ideas. She appears regularly on CNN, CNBC, The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, Nightly Business Report and Bloomberg Business News. She has been quoted in the financial press, including The Wall Street Journal, New York Times and USA Today.