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PACIFIC NORTHWEST REGIONAL ECONOMIC CONFERENCE 2025

The 59th annual PNREC in Bellingham will focus on the next decade – where will we be in 2035 as the regional economy adapts to a changing climate and the wide bands of uncertainty created by emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence?

Dates:

May 19-21, 2025

Location:

Four Points Sheraton in Bellingham

714 Lakeway Dr.

Bellingham, WA 98229

We all have our favorites–energy! labor markets! agriculture! transportation!– but look for panels on AI, EVs, tariffs, and two if not three on U.S. – Canada economic relations. We’ll have a panel for student presentations, and of course the Outlook for the U.S., provinces (B.C. and Alberta) and states (Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana).

We’re well past the deadline for abstract submissions, but if you’ve got something your burning to present on, we can probably shoehorn you in. Please keep your abstracts to under 400 words and provide contact information for every proposed presenter, and send it in via the PNREC website (www.pnrec.org).

All presenters are expected to register and pay the registration fee for the conference.

If you want to submit a poster, please contact us through the same channel as for abstracts.

Check out our latest keynote speaker, Emilie Jackson.

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Conference Chair

Dr. Hart Hodges, Center for Economic and Business Research

Western Washington University

Featured Keynote Speakers:

Emilie Jackson, Assistant Professor of Economics

Michigan State University

Emilie Jackson is an Assistant Professor of Economics at Michigan State University. She earned her PhD in economics from Stanford University in 2020 and completed a post-doc at NBER in 2021. Her research is in the fields labor, health, and public economics. Her recent work uses US tax data to explore the implications of the recent growth in gig employment opportunities (e.g. Uber, Lyft, TaskRabbit, etc.) for individuals facing unemployment shocks. She quantifies the take-up of gig work during unemployment and evaluates the ability to smooth income in the short-run. Furthermore, she evaluates the long-run implications for workers’ labor supply, skill acquisition, and earnings trajectory.

Sylvain Leduc, Executive Vice President and Director of Economic Research

Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco

Dr. Leduc did his undergraduate work at McGill University in Montreal and earned his PhD in economics at the University of Rochester. He has worked much of his career in the Federal Reserve System, and also did a stint as Deputy Governor for the Bank of Canada, before landing in San Francisco, where he has been overseeing research for over six years.

Robert McLeman, Professor of Geography and Environmental Studies

Wilfred Laurier University

Robert McLeman is Professor of Geography and Environmental Studies at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Canada. A former diplomat, Dr. McLeman is an internationally recognized expert on environmental migration. He researches the relationship between drought, migration, and population change in rural areas.

Tony Stillo, Director of Canada Economics

Oxford Economics

Tony Stillo is the Director of Canada Economics at Oxford Economics. He leads the team responsible for preparing the macroeconomic forecast for Canada using Oxford Economics' Global Economic Model, reporting on key data releases, as well as producing and presenting research on key issues affecting the Canadian economy. Prior to joining Oxford Economics in 2018, Tony spent much of his career at the Ontario Ministry of Finance where he most recently led a team responsible for economic modelling, forecasting and impact analysis.

About Our Organization

PNREC

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The Pacific Northwest Regional Economic Conference is a non-profit organization established to promote research and education on the economy of the Northwest states and western Canada.

The PNREC Board of Directors is comprised of economists and regional analysts from the states of Washington, Oregon, Montana, Idaho, and the provinces of British Columbia and Alberta (with occasional participation from Alaska and northern California). They represent a cross section of professionals from academia, business, government, and consulting organizations in both countries.