Newswise — Washington University’s Weidenbaum Center on the Economy, Government and Public Policy and the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis will host a daylong conference titled “State and Local Government Finance amid Economic Turbulence” beginning at 8 a.m. Friday, April 9, in Simon Hall's May Auditorium on the Danforth Campus.
The conference is free and open to the public but registration is required by Friday, April 2.
This timely, nontechnical forum features recognized scholars from across the country, including a keynote address from Ronald C. Fisher, PhD, professor of economics and dean of the Honors College at Michigan State University. Fisher, who once served as deputy treasurer for the state of Michigan, specializes in the study of government finance and taxation, particularly at the state and local levels.
“A conference on state and local public finance is timely given the deteriorating fiscal conditions in state and local government,” says conference moderator Thomas A. Garrett, PhD, economist and assistant vice president with the St. Louis Federal Reserve. “The nontechnical nature of the conference should appeal to a wide range of professionals interested in state budgeting and finance.”
For a complete schedule and to register, visit the Web site of the Weidenbaum Center at wc.wustl.edu.
Conference speakers and topics:
8:30 a.m., keynote address, The Current Status of State and Local Public Finance. Ronald C. Fisher, PhD, professor of cconomics and dean of the Honors College, Michigan State University9:30 a.m., An Economic Evaluation of State and Local Taxes, Ray D. Nelson, PhD, associate professor of business management, Marriott School of Management, Brigham Young University11 a.m., Fiscal Federalism in the United State, Robert Inman, PhD, the Richard K. Mellon Professor of Finance and Economics of the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania1:15 p.m. Non-Traditional Revenue Sources & Implications for Growth, William Fox, PhD, professor of economics and director of the Center for Business & Economic Research, University of Tennessee3 p.m. panel discussion, The Future of State and Local Government Finance, Chris Edwards, Director of Tax Policy Studies at the Cato Institute, Washington, D.C.; Karl Kurtz, Director of Trust for Representative Democracy, National Council of State Legislatures; Robert Tannenwald, PhD, Center for Budget and Policy Priorities.
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