PITT ECONOMISTS PRESENT WORLD ECONOMIC REPORT

PITTSBURGH, Feb. 9 -- Global economic outlook will be the topic of a one-day series of briefings for business and civic leaders presented by seven faculty members from the Department of Economics of the University of Pittsburgh. The briefings will take place in the PNC Bank Conference Center on Thursday, February 12, from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

The scheduled topics and speakers are as follows:

8:30 a.m. - Thomas Rawski, "Where is China's Economy Going?"

An expert on Chinese economic affairs, Rawski has served as a consultant to the World Bank and as a member of the Solomon Brothers Board of Experts. He serves on the editorial boards of the China Quarterly, the Asian Journal of Comparative Economics, and is a contributor to the Asian Wall Street Journal.

9:30 a.m. - James Cassing, "Southeast Asia: Current Developments and Future Prospects."

Cassing has written extensively on the economics of commercial policy and is a policy consultant to USAID, the World Bank, the International Development Bank, and the governments of several countries. Most recently, he served as senior trade advisor to the government of Indonesia.

10:30 a.m. - Asatoshi Maeshiro, "Japanese Economic Outlook."

Maeshiro regularly teaches courses on the Japanese economy and is frequently invited to lecture on US-Japanese economic relations. As an editorial consultant for the Journal of Economic Literature, he is preparing a bibliography on the Japanese economy. Eisuke Sakakibara, Japanese vice minister of finance, is one of his former students.

11:30 a.m. - Carmelo Mesa-Lago, "Economic Developments in Latin America."

Mesa-Lago is the author of nearly 50 books and 150 articles dealing with the economies of Latin American countries. He has served as a consultant for the US Presidency, the State Department, the Department of Labor, the World Bank, the Organization of American States, and numerous United Nations agencies.

1:30 p.m. - Kevin Sontheimer, "Central Europe: At the Crossroads between Western European and Eurasian Markets."

Sontheimer is the founder of the Center for Economic Research and Graduate Education at Charles University in Prague. He led one of the first US trade development missions to Central Europe after the "Velvet revolution," and he has helped develop new economics programs in the Slovak Republic.

2:30 p.m. - Daniel Berkowitz, "The Former Soviet Union: Boom or Bust."

A specialist on economies in transition, Berkowitz is a member of an academic committee commissioned by Congress to evaluate the CIA's analyses of the former Soviet Union. He has served as a consultant to the World Bank and has traveled extensively in Russia and Eastern Europe, interviewing government officials, managers and economic researchers.

3:30 p.m. - Steven Husted, "The European Monetary Union: Believe It or Not, It's Coming."

A specialist in international trade and finance, Husted is co-author of International Economics, and co-editor of Capital, Technology, and Trade in the New Global Economy. He served as senior staff economist with the President's Council of Economic Advisors and was the council's chief specialist on trade policy.

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