News and Events
Greg Alward CEO and Chair of the Board of Directors of the Alward Institute presented and discussed new ideas, new methodology, multiple resources being developed, and tools that have been successfully developed and tested at the University of Idaho and the Alward Institute. It stimulated great interest and discussion.
Pictured are Greg Alward CEO and Chair of the Board of Directors of the Alward Institute and Juliette Tennert Director of Economic and Public Policy Research at The Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute specializing in Utah’s economy, economic forecasting and modeling, fiscal policy analysis, and economic impact studies. Ms. Tennert oversees a staff of economists and analysts who study the Utah economy and public policy issues that impact the state.
Greg Alward, Alward Institute for Collaborative Science & Garth Taylor, University of Idaho presented:
Current Research Agenda for Tapestry, an Open‐Access Multi‐Regional Social Accounting System
Philip Watson, University of Idaho (not present)
Greg Alward, Alward Institute for Collaborative Science & Garth Taylor, University of Idaho presented:
A Protocol for Evaluating Multi‐Sector Economic Contributions Using Input‐Output Models
Philip Watson, University of Idaho (not present)
Raju Pokharel, University of Idaho (not present
Greg Alward, Alward Institute and John Leatherman, Kansas State University at 2019 MCRSA Conference
John Leatherman presenting David Kay, representing Alward Institute & Wells Fargo Bank, with the MCRSA Leadership Award. David served as the President this past year.
Greg Alward University of Idaho & Alward Institute, John Loomis Colorado State University, and Garth Taylor University of Idaho.
Philip Watson, represented the University of Idaho and the Alward Institute for Collaborative Science, at the 58th annual Southern Regional Science Association (SRSA) meeting in Arlington, VA. Phil presented a paper on a new way of investigating why regional wage discrepancies arise. While there are countless reasons for why average wages vary by region, a fundamental deductive distinction can be made between regions that are concentrated in higher than average paying sectors (i.e. an above average paying industry mix) and regions that pay above the national average wages for their respective industry mix. Therefore, two disparate regions may have the same average wage for two very different reasons; region 1 may have a relatively low paying industry mix, but they pay above average wages for those relatively low paying sectors and region 2 may have an industry mix that is concentrated in relatively high paying sectors, however those sectors in the region pay below the national average for the respective sector. Even though the two hypothetical regions may have the same overall average wage, the underlying structure of the region’s economies are likely very different. Similarly, a region’s low average wage could arise from these two very disparate structural problems to varying degrees. Furthermore, the policy prescriptions for the economic development of a given region are likely very different for regions which possess a relatively low paying industry mix than for region’s with a relatively high paying mix of industries, but for which the wages paid in the region are below national average wages for that region.
Auber- Advances in Economic Impact Analysis session was chaired by Greg Alward representing the
Alward Institute and University of Idaho – Greg presented Estimating Sales Tax Impacts with Input-
Output Models and Building Open Source Regional Social Accounting. Stanislaw Rzeznik represented
the United States Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) and presented BEA’s RIMSII Regionalization
Methods.
Greg is pictured here at the 2018 AUBER conference with Dr.Brian Lewandowski who represented the
University of Colorado. Brian serves on the Alward Institute Scientific Advisory Council and the AUBER
Board of Directors.
SAF - Greg Alward, Greg Latta, and others represented the University of Idaho regarding Forest Policy and Science-Management discussing interactions in cutting-edge forest science with practical application, case studies showcasing best practices, adaptive management examples from forest practitioners, on-the-ground workshops in broad interest areas, and forest management in the Pacific Northwest.
Western Forest Economists (WFE) - Dr. Greg Alward represented the University of Idaho at the Western
Forest Economists (WFE).The WFE meeting brought together scholars and professionals to discuss topics
related to forests and natural resources in the West. The conference included a mix of research presentations,
perspectives from both private and public sector.
MCRSA – Congratulations to David Kay, the President of MCRSA
Greg Alward represented the University of Idaho & the Alward Institute and David Kay represented
the Alward Institute & Wells Fargo Bank, and at the 49th Mid-Continent Regional Science Association
meeting in Kansas City, Missouri June 6-8, 2018. Greg Alward presented his paper " Building Better
Social Accounts for Agriculture and Natural Resource Contribution Studies ", and David Kay
presented “Estimating Sales Tax Impacts with Regional I‐O Models” by Brian Lewandowski,
University of Colorado (also serves on the Alward Institute Scientific Advisory Board), Gregory S.
Alward, University of Idaho & Alward Institute, R. Garth Taylor, University of Idaho, and David Kay, Wells Fargo Bank & Alward Institute. Andrew Schreiber, US Environmental Protection Agency and
Research Associate of the Alward Institute presented “blueNOTE: National Open source Tools for
General Equilibrium Analysis”.