Editor’s Note:
Thursday morning at 7:30, the Augusta University Hull College of Business is hosting it’s annual Economic Outlook Breakfast. Findings for 2022 will be presented by the AU and ABD economist, Dr. Simon Medcalfe. Wells Fargo will provide boxed breakfasts from Chick-Fil-A. There is no charge, but you must register here
AU and Hull are proud to provide this service to our business community. It’s also a nice networking event with about 100 business leaders expected.
Our conversation was edited for brevity and clarity:
ABD: You’ve attended all five years since you became Dean at Hull College of Business (including virtually in 2020). Do you expect something different this year?
Rick: It’s certainly possible that Simon will touch on the new strain of Covid variant and he can look what Covid impact has occurred over the last 21-22 months and project on that.
Also, I’ve seen Simon have his research students assist him in the presentation.
Recently, he and five students did a funded project for SRSCRO (Savannah River Site Community Reuse Organization). They studied the economic support and well-being of the area surrounding the impact of SRS on our area.
We’ll all have to wait and see what Simon does—he makes things digestible for all of us, informative and highly entertaining!
ABD: Will he focus on jobs?
Rick: Most definitely. The November jobs numbers came out late last week and were a bit weak. I’ll be interested to hear what he has to say.
He’ll talk about unemployment, which we all care about. He has a unique model to look at jobs—and specific sectors. He’ll be able to project what he expects to happen on the job front in 2022 nationally, regionally and locally.
ABD: Why is it important to have economists like Simon teaching students in the business school?
Rick: Economics and accounting are the language of business. Courses provide a good foundational knowledge to understand business as a whole. Without a basic understanding, students would have a difficult time with business in general.
AU Hull College of Business requires each undergraduate student to take a course in micro and macroeconomics.
We have four faculty members teaching and have had our Augusta students go on to become economists for government agencies, investment firms, Fortune 500 firms and more.
