February 1 and 2, the University of Montana’s Bureau of Business and Economic Research will present 'The Path Forward'; their annual statewide Economic Outlook Seminar.

Director Patrick Barkey was on the KGVO Talk Back show on Tuesday to provide a preview of the upcoming seminar, especially after such an overwhelming year economically for the state.

“It's hard to overstate how extraordinary the actions and the consequences of those actions have been taken for the economy,” said Dr. Barkey. “You know, the debt that's being rung up; the policies of the Federal Reserve; the potential impacts and sea changes; where people want to live and housing, all these kinds of things.”

Barkey said one of the advantages of the online seminar rather than traveling the state in person is that the seminar can be longer with more meaty content.

“We have two days of content instead of just a half day,” he said. “So we have a full day for our statewide audience on February the first that's Monday, and then on February the second, we take a virtual tour of the state. We start in Helena and we end up in eastern Montana and we present nine different programs, dealing with the economies in those nine different regions around the state.”

Barkey said the presenters at the conference are the cream of the economic crop.

“We've got keynote speakers,” he said. “We have Ed Glaeser from Harvard, who I think is probably going to be in the Nobel Prize list very shortly. We have Neel Kashkari, who is the President of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. A previous (Talk Back) caller talked about what's going on with debt. Neel Kashkari is one of the people who votes on those kinds of things, so he'll be on the program.”

In addition to the featured speakers, the seminar will also feature panel discussions targeted at every area of the state.

“We have panels on these programs,” he said. “We entitled them ‘small business survival stories’. We'll hear from businesses around the state in terms of the kinds of adjustments they've made, the kind of opportunities and the kind of crises they face over what's been an extraordinary year of 2020.”

Click here to register for the 2021 Bureau of Business and Economic Research Economic Outlook Seminar.

 

Celebrity Kids Who Look Exactly Like Their Famous Parents

 

More From Newstalk KGVO 1290 AM & 98.3 FM