Please purchase tickets in advance by March 22, here.
Hart Hodges and James McCafferty of WWU Center for Economic and Business Research will join us to provide their evaluations of how the economy is doing nationally, statewide and locally including current trends for the cost-of-living, tariffs, and the national debt. As for housing, Whatcom County now has the worst housing affordability in the Puget Sound region when comparing home prices to incomes.
They’ll explain the K economy and income inequality, who is prospering and who is struggling. What does it all mean for our future? Join us to find out.
Hart Hodges is a Professor in the Department of Economics at Western Washington University and Director of Western’s Center for Economic and Business Research. He received his Ph.D. in Economics in 1994 from the University of Washington. Hart taught economics from 1993-1995 at the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, WA, and then served as the natural resource damage assessment economist for the U.S. Department of the Interior. He also spent several years working with an economic consulting firm in Alaska.
He joined the faculty at Western in the Fall of 2000. His research interests include natural resource and environmental economics, health economics, and applied business economics. Hart is a member of the Northwest Workforce Council board and works with a variety of businesses and public agencies serving the mission of the Center for Economic and Business Research.
James McCafferty is Director of Western’s Center for Economic and Business Research. In this role he seeks to broaden the connections between the University, the College of Business and Economics and the real world – businesses, non-profits, tribal communities and government agencies.
James has an MBA from Western Washington University, a Bachelor of Science in Journalism/Public Relations from the University of Oregon, is a Certified Global Business Professional, serves as an Officer for the Seattle Economics Council and is a past board member of the Association of University Business and Economic Research.