Roundtable Analyzes Great Recession of 2007-10

03/17/2010 

Three SUNY Cortland Economics Department faculty members, one of whom is also a local business leader, will interpret what made the Great Recession of 2007-10 the worst in U.S. history since the Great Depression, on Thursday, April 1, at SUNY Cortland.

The panel of speakers, who seek to increase public understanding of the complex forces impacting the U.S. economy, will present a special, extended Community Roundtable from 8-9:30 a.m. in SUNY Cortland’s Park Center Hall of Fame Room.

Sponsored by the President’s Office and the College’s Center for Educational Exchange (CEE), the Community Roundtable, titled “The U.S. Business Cycle and the Recession of 2007-2010 — What Went Wrong?,” is free and open to the public. Refreshments will be served at 7:45 a.m. A question-and-answer period will follow the presentation.

The panelists include Associate Professor Alan D. Haight, Assistant Professor Biru Paksha Paul and Lecturer Brian Ward. Paul will provide an electronic presentation of the topic.

Many people blame the bursting of the housing bubble for the recent economic fiasco, but this is only one factor causing the downturn. Trade and government deficits, along with falling private savings, contributed to the macroeconomic imbalances that made the U.S. recession worse than it would have been otherwise.

Haight, who joined the College in 2004 as an assistant professor, was promoted to associate professor in 2007. He earned a bachelor’s degree from University of Oregon and a master’s degree and doctorate from University of Wisconsin at Madison.

Paul, who has served on the SUNY Cortland faculty since 2007, teaches microeconomics, macroeconomics and finance by relating theories to his 12-year industry experience in money, banking, finance and economic journalism.

He wrote “Easy Come, Easy Go: The U.S. Financial Crisis of 2008,” which appeared in the Nov. 9, 2008, edition of The Daily Star, Bangladesh’s leading English language daily newspaper. Paul has worked as a consultant at the United Nations Development Program and is the author of a book on Indian business cycles and inflation. His research focuses on macroeconomic policy, business cycles and economic growth of developing economies. His papers have been published in the Journal of Asian Economics, Journal of Quantitative Economics, Indian Economic Review and Journal of Developing Areas.

Paul received bachelor’s and master’s degrees from University of Dhaka in Bangladesh; an M.B.A. from the University of Technology in Sydney, Australia; and a master of arts and doctorate in applied economics from Binghamton University.

Ward is president and CEO of the Cortland Line Company, which manufactures and markets fishing lines and related fishing products worldwide. He works closely with key suppliers in China, Japan, Korea and Germany. The former CEO of the American Dairy Association, the Dairy Commodity Marketing arm of the Dairy Farmers, he has 10 years of experience in major retail management.

Ward has a bachelor’s degree in industrial marketing and advertising from Western Michigan University and an M.B.A. from Syracuse University. He currently teaches two management sections at SUNY Cortland while pursuing a doctorate in industrial/organizational psychology.

For more information, contact the CEE at (607) 753-4214 or visit www.cortland.edu/cee.