Cal Lutheran Economists Honored for Accurate Predictions

Two Cal Lutheran economists are among the winners of the National Association for Business Economics’ annual Outlook Award competition, the university announced Friday. Dan Hamilton and Bill Watkins of the Cal Lutheran Center for Economic Research and Forecasting were awarded second place for the accuracy of their economic forecasts over the last four quarters. The top prize went to Douglas G. Duncan, chief economist and senior vice president at Fannie Mae. Watkins and Hamilton launched the center at Cal Lutheran in 2009 after working for nine years on the Economic Forecast Project at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Watkins formerly served as an economist in the Monetary Affairs Division of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve in Washington, D.C. Hamilton’s prior experience includes producing and interpreting forecasts for clients such as Visa International, the Panama Canal Authority and the Central Bank of the Netherlands as part of the Wharton Econometric Forecasting Associates Group. In addition to leading the center, both are also associate professors in the economics department at Cal Lutheran.