Back to B-school: A Briefing on the Economy

William & Mary Business, Law faculty to Present Briefing on the Economy in Interactive Town Hall

WILLIAMSBURG, Va., Oct. 5 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Faculty from the business and law schools of the College of William and Mary will present a briefing on the economy on October 20 from 7-8:30 p.m. at Alan B. Miller Hall, home of the Mason School of Business on the College campus in Williamsburg, VA.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20051111/DCF019LOGO-b)

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20051111/DCF019LOGO-b)

The event will focus on an array of current hot button topics ranging from global and domestic economies to finance and investments. It will be streamed live on the internet at the school's site, http://mason.wm.edu.

The business faculty, ranked 4th in the nation by Princeton Review, will be joined by faculty from the law school, the first law school in the country. This is the third forum since the financial crisis in Fall 2008.

Alumni are invited to take an active role in the briefing, using email, Facebook, and Twitter to submit questions. For alumni, this will be a chance to once again learn from their favorite business school professors.

Moderator Richard Ash, in anticipating this year's important topics noted, "Everyone is so negative as our economy evolves, we need to let alumni and the local community know what they can expect, how they can make correct investments to take advantage of the economic climate and make people feel more comfortable."

Professors participating represent diverse backgrounds and both the Mason School of Business and the William and Mary Law School:

• Professor John Boschen, Brinkley-Mason Professor of Economics and Finance, has extensive experience with the Federal Reserve and has published over two dozen articles in noted economics and finance journals.

"There are some good and bad aspects of the current economy. Previous college students treated jobs as an inherent right. This economy is creating a tougher generation of college students, ones who must cultivate actual skills and fight to succeed in a highly competitive market."

• Professor Deborah Hewitt has extensive experience in International Economics and worked as an international economist at the U.S. Treasury. She has contributed several articles to business and investment publications including Standard & Poor's Credit Week and Bottom Line, as well as The Wall Street Journal and Barron's.

"Overall, emerging countries are really coming out of the recession well. These countries had a stronger position going in, using the previous growth decade to reduce their debt levels dramatically while the United Stated and Europe became heavily indebted. They are developing intraregional trade, lessening their dependency on Europe and the U.S., and questioning the huge cycles of capitalism in favor of stability.

"Even if China's currency is allowed to appreciate, it will not help us. If the government imposes a tariff as a punitive measure, it would simultaneously raise the price to American consumers, increase Mexican and Thai exports, and do nothing to increase employment and production levels."

• Professor John Merrick, Richard S. Reynolds Associate Professor of Business, has split his time between academia and Wall Street, and currently serves as a Professor of Economics and Finance.

"We have done a lot of healing. From now on our economy will move away from its market-driven past, and instead will return to economic fundamentals."

• Professor Richard Ash, Professor of Entrepreneurship, Venture Capital, Management, and Financing of Small Business Enterprises.

"People are afraid, pulling money out of equities and willing to accept 1 to 2 percent for returns. An important topic of the Forum will be ways to fix this, and what the government has to do."

• Law School Vice Dean and Professor Eric Kades will bring decades of experience in Economic Analysis of Property and Law.

For more information, to submit questions, and to view the live webcast, visit http://mason.wm.edu/economy.

As the second-oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and educational home to many early American leaders, The College is revered as the "alma mater of a nation." Its Mason School of Business embraces the entrepreneurial spirit with a revolutionary approach to business education that focuses on innovation through its personalized, experiential model. At its core, the Mason School is a welcoming community and invites energetic thinkers with a will to lead in creating a strong sustainable economy and thriving society.

The Mason School of Business has focused on bringing innovation to the William and Mary Campus. Most recently the Mason School of Business was honored by Saatchi and Saatchi as the first school to implement their D.O.T. Sustainability Initiative. Additionally, Mason hosts yearly accounting, consulting, and marketing symposiums featuring the nation's most distinguished firms. In October 2010, it will launch the Alan B. Miller Center for Entrepreneurship and will host NYT Business Columnist Andrew Ross Sorkin, author of Too Big To Fail, in February 2011.

SOURCE The Mason School of Business at The College of William and Mary