Register
Register

March

12
2010

10:00 am EST - 11:30 am EST

Past Event

Measuring Up in a Changing Economy: A Look at New U.S. Service Sector Data and Why It Matters

  • Friday, March 12, 2010

    10:00 am - 11:30 am EST

The Brookings Institution
Saul/Zilkha Rooms

1775 Massachusetts Avenue, NW
Washington, DC
20036

Access to timely economic information is crucial for policymakers as they respond to booms and busts. While services industries have grown to account for more than half of U.S. output, until recently, the nation has lacked up-to-date information on this sector’s activity, making it more difficult to detect turning points in the economy. Further, the absence of regularly collected federal statistics on activity in the finance, insurance and real estate industries have impeded real-time monitoring of conditions in the services industries that were at the heart of the financial crisis.

The Census Bureau is filling this important gap in our nation’s data needs through its new quarterly survey of services sector activity. On March 12, one day after the first census quarterly release on the output of finance and insurance firms, Economic Studies at Brookings hosted a discussion on how the new data can better inform economic policy. Deputy Secretary of Commerce Dennis Hightower delivered the keynote address and senior representatives from the Census Bureau and the Bureau of Economic Analysis then explained what’s now available and how it will be used to improve our estimates of GDP. A concluding panel included the perspectives of analysts from the public and private sectors.

Brookings Vice President and Co-Director of Economic Studies Karen Dynan introduced Hightower and moderated the panel. After each session, speakers took questions from the audience.

Measuring Up in a Changing Economy: A Look at New U.S. Service Sector Data and Why It Matters

Agenda

  • March 12
    • Welcome

      Karen Dynan
      Moderator: Karen Dynan Professor of the Practice of Economics - Harvard University, Nonresident Senior Fellow - Peterson Institute for International Economics
    • Keynote Address

      DH
      Dennis Hightower Deputy Secretary, U.S. Department of Commerce
    • Statistical Agency Presentations

      CHM
      C. Harvey Monk, Jr. Associate Director for Economic Programs, Bureau of the Census, U.S. Department of Commerce
      SL
      Steven Landefeld Director, Bureau of Economic Analysis, US Department of Commerce
    • Panel Discussion

      Karen Dynan
      Moderator: Karen Dynan Professor of the Practice of Economics - Harvard University, Nonresident Senior Fellow - Peterson Institute for International Economics
      DEL
      David E. Lebow Deputy Associate Director, Division of Research and Statistics, Federal Reserve Board
      Carol Corrado The Conference Board
      Julia Coronado
      Julia Coronado President & Founder - MacroPolicy Perspectives, Clinical Associate Professor of Finance - University of Texas at Austin