One of Nation’s Top Economic Forecasters to Visit Colorado State to Address Outstanding Economics Students, Scholars

A widely recognized economic forecaster and analyst will address top economics students and professors at Colorado State University April 20.

David Levy, director of the Levy Institute Forecasting Center, has predicted a number of economic phenomena. His first coup, while still a student at Williams College, was to predict the phenomenal rate of growth of the labor force between 1975-1980, an accomplishment not matched by even the U.S. Labor Department.

Levy will speak on "Macroeconomic Reality Check" at 4 p.m. in the Cherokee Park Room of Lory Student Center. He will participate in ceremonies for the induction of graduate and undergraduate students into Omicron Delta Epsilon, the national economics honorary society.

He is perhaps best known for predicting (and coining the term) "the contained depression" of the early 1990s. He had described the nature of the recession and the economy’s troubled and sporadic recovery from it before most economists acknowledged that a downturn was even possible. Clients of Levy Economic Forecasts, the consulting firm established by Levy and his father, S. J. Levy, provided analysis and associated interest rate forecasts that led to record financial market gains for many of the firm’s clients.

"Levy’s great strength as a forecaster is partly due to his ability to bring the abstract and formal world of economics together with the concrete facts of Main Street and Wall Street," said Ron Phillips, professor of economics at Colorado State and a former resident scholar at The Jerome Levy Economics Institute of Bard College. "David Levy’s talk will be especially enlightening for those students who wonder how the material they learn in the classroom can be applied to the complex, real-world economy."

A Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Williams College with a bachelor’s degree in mathematics, Levy earned an MBA from the Columbia University School of Business. He was influenced by a 10-year association with the late Hyman P. Minsky, a leading authority on monetary theory and financial institutions and a Washington University economist.

After a time in market research, Levy began to work closely with his father as an associate and partner of Levy Forecasts, and became director of the Levy Institute Forecasting Center when it was established in 1991. He is vice chairman of The Jerome Levy Economics Institute of Bard College.

The Levy Institute Forecasting Center’s primary activity is researching and forecasting U.S. and international economic conditions Levy was a member of President Bill Clinton’s Commission to Study Capital Budgeting in 1997 and the federal government’s Competitive Policy Council Infrastructure Subcouncil. He has provided briefings, consultations and testimony for members of Congress, administration officials and Federal Reserve governors. His forecasting expertise has been quoted in numerous newspapers and magazines and has brought him frequent appearances on such broadcast programs as "Lehrer NewsHour," "Firing Line," "Today" show and "CBS Early Show."

The event is free and open to the public, but reservations are required to attend the talk and reception that follows in the University Club of Lory Student Center.

For reservations or more information, call Colorado State’s economics department at (970) 491-6566.