LISTEN: Special Briefing on COVID-19, the US Economy, and Critical Needs of States and Municipalities

Special Briefing on COVID-19, the US Economy, and Critical Needs of States and Municipalities

Thursday, June 11, 2020 at 11 a.m. EDT

The Volcker Alliance and Penn Institute for Urban Research cohosted an online special briefing with Mark M. Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics; Austan D. Goolsbee, the Robert P. Gwinn Professor of Economics at the Booth School of Business, University of Chicago and former chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers; Juliette Tennert, chief economist at the Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute, University of Utah, and former Utah state budget director and chief economist; and Dan Smith, associate professor of public policy and administration and director of the Master of Public Administration (MPA) program at University of Delaware.

The panelists discussed the outlook for the US economy as states and localities reopen amid demonstrations and civil unrest and as the Senate considers further federal aid following passage of the CARES Act.

Moderated by William Glasgall, Volcker Alliance senior vice president and director of state and local initiatives, and Susan Wachter, co-director of Penn IUR, this briefing was the ninth in a series of sixty-minute online conversations featuring experts from the Volcker Alliance’s national research network and Penn IUR, along with other leading academics, economists, and federal, state, and local leaders from around the US.

 This special briefing featured:

• Austan D. Goolsbee, Robert P. Gwinn Professor of Economics at the Booth School of Business, University of Chicago; Former Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers
• Dan Smith, Associate Professor of Public Policy and Administration and Director of the Master of Public Administration (MPA) Program at University of Delaware
• Juliette Tennert, Chief Economist at the Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute, University of Utah; Former Utah State Budget Director and Chief Economist
• Mark M. Zandi, Chief Economist of Moody’s Analytics

William Glasgall is senior vice president and director of state and local initiatives at the Volcker Alliance. In this role, he has supervised the publication of numerous working papers and studies, including four Truth and Integrity in State Budgeting reports. Previously, he was managing editor for states and municipalities at Bloomberg News and senior editor at BusinessWeek Magazine, where he won two Overseas Press Club reporting awards. In 2020, he was named a fellow at the University of Pennsylvania Institute for Urban Research. Mr. Glasgall is a member of the National Federation of Municipal Analysts, a member of the Municipal Fiscal Health Working Group of the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, and a governor of the Overseas Press Club Foundation. A Boston University graduate, he was also a Knight-Bagehot Fellow in Economics and Business Journalism at Columbia University and a DAAD Fellow at the University of Bonn, Germany.

Austan D. Goolsbee is the Robert P. Gwinn Professor of Economics at the Booth School of Business, University of Chicago. He previously served in Washington as the Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers and a member of the President's cabinet. His research has earned him recognition as a Fulbright Scholar and an Alfred P. Sloan fellow. In prior years he was named one of the 100 Global Leaders for Tomorrow by the World Economic Forum, and one of the six "Gurus of the Future" by the Financial Times. His ability to explain economics clearly has made Goolsbee popular in the media. Jon Stewart describes him as "Eliot Ness meets Milton Friedman" and he has twice been named as a "star" professor by BusinessWeek's "Guide to the Best Business Schools." 

Goolsbee serves on the Economic Advisory Panel to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and has previously served on the Panel of Economic Advisors to the Congressional Budget Office, the U.S. Census Advisory Commission and as a special consultant for Internet Policy to the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice. He joined Chicago Booth in 1995.

Dan Smith is Associate Professor of Public Policy and Administration and Director of the Master of Public Administration (MPA) program at University of Delaware.

Dan Smith studies state and local government budgeting and financial management. His research focuses on the effects of state fiscal institutions, especially balanced budget requirements, and the implications of how states accumulate and use fund balances in state rainy day funds, unemployment trusts, and pension funds. He is also a Senior Faculty Fellow in UD’s Institute for Public Administration. He has served on the Governmental Accounting Standards Advisory Council (GASAC), and am the Immediate Past Chair of the Association for Budgeting and Financial Management (ABFM).

Previously, Dan was Associate Professor and Director of the Finance Specialization at NYU’s Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service. He earned a Ph.D. in Public Administration in the School of Public and International Affairs at University of Georgia.

Juliette Tennert is the chief economist at the Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute, specializing in Utah’s economy, economic forecasting and modeling, fiscal policy analysis and economic impact studies. Her most recent work includes state revenue forecasting, labor force analysis, housing and construction research and international trade data analysis.

Before joining the Eccles School, Tennert served as the state budget director and chief economist for Governor Gary Herbert, chief economist for Governor Jon Huntsman and as a fiscal analyst for the Utah State Legislature. Prior to her state service, Tennert was a research analyst for the Center for Business and Economic Research at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV).

Tennert holds a master’s degree in economics from UNLV and a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of Chicago. She is also an adjunct instructor of public budgeting and finance in the University of Utah’s Master of Public Administration program and has been honored as one of Utah Business Magazine’s annual “30 Women to Watch.”

Susan Wachter is Sussman Professor and professor of real estate and finance at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. From 1998 to 2001, she served as assistant secretary for policy development and research, US Department of Housing and Urban Development, the senior urban policy official and principal advisor to the secretary. At The Wharton School, she was chairperson of the real estate department and professor of real estate and finance from July 1997 until her 1998 appointment to HUD. At Penn, she co-founded and currently is co-director of the Penn Institute for Urban Research. She also founded and currently serves as director of Wharton’s Geographical Information Systems Lab.

Wachter was the editor of Real Estate Economics from 1997 to 1999 and currently serves on the editorial boards of several real estate journals. She is the author of more than two hundred scholarly publications and the recipient of several awards for teaching excellence at The Wharton School. Her forthcoming edited volume, Perspectives on Fair Housing, will be published by Penn Press. Previous volumes include Shared Prosperity in America’s Communities and Neighborhood and Life Chances. She has served on multiple for-profit and not-for-profit boards and currently serves on the Affordable Housing Advisory Committee of Fannie Mae and the Office of Financial Research Advisory Committee of the US Treasury. She frequently comments on national media and testifies to Congress on US housing policy.

Mark M. Zandi is chief economist of Moody’s Analytics, where he directs economic research. Moody’s Analytics, a subsidiary of Moody’s Corp., is a leading provider of economic research, data and analytical tools. Dr. Zandi is a cofounder of Economy.com, which Moody’s purchased in 2005.

Dr. Zandi is on the board of directors of MGIC, the nation’s largest private mortgage insurance company, and is the lead director of Reinvestment Fund, one of the nation’s largest community development financial institutions, which makes investments in underserved communities.

He is a trusted adviser to policymakers and an influential source of economic analysis for businesses, journalists and the public. Dr. Zandi frequently testifies before Congress and conducts regular briefings on the economy for corporate boards, trade associations, and policymakers at all levels. He is often quoted in national and global publications and interviewed by major news media outlets, and is a frequent guest on CNBC, NPR, Meet the Press, CNN, and various other national networks and news programs.

Dr. Zandi is the author of Paying the Price: Ending the Great Recession and Beginning a New American Century, which provides an assessment of the monetary and fiscal policy response to the Great Recession. His other book, Financial Shock: A 360º Look at the Subprime Mortgage Implosion, and How to Avoid the Next Financial Crisis, is described by the New York Times as the “clearest guide” to the financial crisis. 

Dr. Zandi earned his BS from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and his PhD at the University of Pennsylvania.