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Finance & Commerce covers Summit

By David Gonnerman '90
April 19, 2011
Robb Hiller '73 (left) discusses the finer points of keynoter Eugene Ludwig's presentation during St. Olaf's Economic Summit. In the background are St. Olaf Professor Emeritus of Economics Bill Carlson and Michelle Crottier '04. Ludwig is former comptroller of the currency of the United States.

Mark Anderson, a reporter from Finance & Commerce, filed two stories after attending last week's Economic Summit hosted by St. Olaf. Anderson's first story, "Former Fed official: U.S. policy helped overheat housing market," detailed assertions by former Federal Reserve Governor Mark Olson '65, the first speaker at the daylong event. "It was Washington’s zeal to turn more Americans into homeowners that launched the housing and economic crisis that we’re slowly emerging from," writes Anderson.

His second story, "Barclays economist worries about unemployment, inflation," looked at the forecast presented by Dean Maki '87, chief U.S. economist with Barclay's Capital. "But sometime in 2012, when unemployment nears 7 percent, the good news will stop," reports Anderson. "The economy will reach what Maki said will be its new 'natural rate of unemployment' — a plateau well above the 5 percent to 5.5 percent that the Federal Reserve and many economists accept."

Watch all proceedings from the Summit online.

Contact David Gonnerman at 507-786-3315 or gonnermd@stolaf.edu.