Economic Downturn and Stimulus Packages
February 15, 2008
Banking, the Economy and Politics
Julia Plotts, assistant professor of Clinical, Department of Finance and Business Economics at the USC Marshall School, is a former House banking committee staffer, banking industry lobbyist and investment banker with Banc of America Securities LLC. Plotts has wide contacts throughout the banking and financial industries and political establishment and can speak about political responses to the economic downturn.
Contact her at (213) 821-6798 or plotts@marshall.usc.edu.
Securities and Financial Markets
Lawrence Harris, Fred V. Keenan Chair in Finance at the USC Marshall School, is a former chief economist for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and current director of the Marshall School’s Center for Investment Studies. Harris is the author of a seminal text on securities exchanges and markets, and an expert on investor relations, security market structure, market competitiveness and regulation. He can discuss issues related to potential impacts of the proposed financial stimulus packages and macroeconomic factors affecting the current downturn. As the SEC’s chief economist from 2002 to 2004, he helped develop regulations implementing Sarbanes-Oxley.
Contact him at (213) 740-6496 or lharris@usc.edu.
Regulatory Climate
Randolph Beatty, dean of the USC Leventhal School of Accounting at the USC Marshall School of Business, is an expert on stock market regulation, valuation and auditor reputation. He can talk about the costs and benefits of Sarbanes Oxley and other regulations as well as issues of competitiveness.
Contact him at (213) 740-4838 or rbeatty@usc.edu.
International Trade
Carl Voigt, associate professor of Clinical, Department of Management and Organization at the USC Marshall School. Voigt is an expert in Pacific Rim trade issues. He annually leads student teams to Mexico for visits to the Ensenada port and maquiladoras in Tijuana. He is also a lead adviser with M.B.A. teams examining a wide range of trade-related issues on behalf of the APEC Business Advisory Council.
Contact him at (213) 740-0764 or cvoigt@marshall.usc.edu.
Politics and Technology
Morley Winograd, associate professor of Clinical, Department of Management and Organization at the USC Marshall School. Winograd is executive director of the Institute for Communications Technology Management, a premier research center examining the impacts of technology on consumers. He is co-author of an upcoming book on the impacts of communications revolutions on the current and previous elections. Winograd was senior policy adviser to Vice President Al Gore and can speak about the political impacts of technological advances.
Contact him at (213) 740-0981 or winograd@marshall.usc.edu.
Real Estate
Delores Conway, associate professor, Information and Operations Management at the USC Marshall School. Conway is a noted expert on Southern California real estate markets and related political and economic issues, particularly in the commercial/industrial and multi-family housing sectors. She speaks regularly on the credit squeeze, the real-estate pricing crash and related issues. Conway is currently director of the Casden Real Estate Economics Forecast at the Marshall School’s Lusk Center for Real Estate.
Contact her at (213) 740-4836 or dconway@marshall.usc.edu.
Tracy Seslen, lecturer, Department of Finance and Business Economics at the USC Marshall School. Seslen is an expert in residential real estate issues, with particular knowledge of markets in Los Angeles, Phoenix, Las Vegas and Boston. Her research has focused on housing cycles, household mobility behavior, and termination risk in commercial mortgage-backed securities. She has presented her research both nationally and internationally, participating in real estate conferences from Boston to Beijing.
Contact her at (213) 740-5796 or seslen@usc.edu.
Robert Bridges, professor of Clinical, Department of Finance and Business Economics at the USC Marshall School. Bridges is an expert in real estate and development issues. He has degrees in architecture and real estate development and consults on wide range of major commercial and infrastructure projects.
Contact him at rbridges@marshall.usc.edu.
Consumer Psychology
Joseph R. Priester, assistant professor, Department of Marketing at the USC Marshall School. Priester is president of the Society for Consumer Psychology and a noted lecturer and researcher on issues of consumer behavior, particularly in the areas of attitudes and persuasion. He can speak to likely consumer responses to the economic downturn, and how that will affect spending and consumption patterns.
Contact him at (213) 821-5649 or priester@usc.edu.
Valerie S. Folkes, USC Associates Chair in Business Administration, Department of Marketing at the USC Marshall School. Folkes is an expert in consumer behavior, with research focused on how consumers evaluate services, the effects of stereotypes on consumer behavior and the effects of negative information. She can speak to likely consumer responses to the economic downturn, and how that will affect spending and consumption patterns.
Contact her at (213) 740-5056 or folkes@marshall.usc.edu.