REMI on Modeling the Economic Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic
Economies all over the world are feeling the economic and fiscal pressure brought about by the outbreak of COVID-19 and the preventative measures taken to slow its spread.
REMI CEO and Chief Economist Frederick Treyz, Ph.D. will be hosting a special REMI webinar, “REMI on Modeling the Economic Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic,” on Tuesday, March 31st from 2:00 to 3:00 p.m. (ET) that covers the variety of disruptive effects expected from COVID-19 on the United States economy.
This presentation is designed to calculate the full economic impact of a pandemic by identifying the key types of disruptions associated with an outbreak and explaining how to model each of them. The severity of this pandemic will differ from region to region, but this webinar will put together a baseline for modeling the various economic changes we are already witnessing in real time.
Dr. Treyz will evaluate the impacts of a wide variety of disruptive effects, including increased absenteeism, changes in consumer spending patterns, supply chain disruptions, declines in global demand, and an increased mortality rate.
The methodological approaches to modeling each of these factors will be carefully detailed during my webinar presentation. Dr. Treyz will also explain how businesses and the U.S. economy could potentially respond to continued closures and travel restrictions.
Vanessa Vargas & Patrick Finley – Epidemiological and Economic Modeling of a Pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic has now led to the deaths of thousands of people and infected even more. The human tragedy is staggering, but unfortunately it is not the only cost that the pandemic has imposed.
Economist Vanessa Vargas and Principal Member of Technical Staff Patrick Finley from Sandia National Laboratories will join REMI for their special guest webinar, “Epidemiological and Economic Modeling of a Pandemic,” that will be presented on Tuesday, March 24th from 2:00 to 3:00 p.m. (ET). This discussion combines epidemiology and economics to explore the significant costs associated with a widespread outbreak and its interruption of normal economic activity.
The Chinese economy has already been severely impacted, and the effects continue to spread with over 20,000 cases reported outside of China and hundreds reported in the United States.
In order to understand the potential impacts on the U.S. economy, Ms. Vargas and Mr. Finley will utilize a 2010 report produced by Sandia that analyzed the effects of the H1N1 and H5N1 influenza pandemics using REMI. They will explain the methodologies implemented in Sandia’s report before highlighting the key findings discovered during their assessment. Basing the analysis on careful epidemiological pre-modeling, the report displayed how much illness could reduce economic output via increased mortality, absenteeism, and reduced worker productivity.
This webinar presentation also describes how the COVID-19 outbreak may differ from previous pandemics, both epidemiologically and with respect to China’s positioning in the world’s economic system.
Luis Nieves-Ruiz & Matt Siebert – The Bridge to Space: The Value of S.R. 405 to Florida’s Space Economy
The State Road 405 (S.R. 405) Causeway is the most direct connection between the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) Launch Complex and the City of Titusville, which is home to most of Brevard County’s aerospace suppliers. It serves thousands of military and civilian personnel working at the Cape Canaveral Spaceport, and is also the only route to the KSC Visitor Complex.
The bridge’s integrity has been compromised and will need to be replaced in the near future due to the impact of natural disasters like Hurricane Irma and sea level rise. To this effect, the East Central Florida Regional Planning Council (ECFRPC) partnered with the North Brevard Economic Development Zone and other stakeholders to develop a valuation analysis of S.R. 405 in order to attract the appropriate investment for its replacement.
Luis Nieves-Ruiz, Economic Development Manager, and Matt Siebert, Planner I, from the ECFRC will join REMI for their guest webinar presentation, “The Bridge to Space: The Value of S.R. 405 to Florida’s Space Economy,” that will be held on Wednesday, April 29th from 2:00 to 3:00 p.m. (ET). This discussion reviews their use of the REMI PI+ model to perform multiple economic impact simulation scenarios, including an economic valuation of the bridge, an estimation of the potential loss of new economic activity due to the bridge’s closure, an examination of the long-term effects of losing aerospace and tourism activity, and a comparison of the economic impact of using state or local funds to pay for the causeway.
During their webinar, Mr. Nieves-Ruiz and Mr. Siebert will explore how to incorporate aerospace company sales and visitor expenditures into modeling procedures to estimate the economic value of S.R. 405 to Brevard County’s economy, the methodological approaches used for their different analyses, and the project’s major findings.
Michael Pollock, William Coley, & Rod Motamedi – Addressing Short-term and Long-term Fiscal Questions: How to Establish Gaming Policy to Generate Optimal Economic Benefits
Governments across the United States are grappling with a medical and economic crisis that has placed all of us in uncharted territory. With these challenges in mind, REMI and Spectrum Gaming Group will jointly present a webinar on Thursday, April 2nd from 2:00 to 3:00 p.m. (ET) titled “Addressing Short-term and Long-term Fiscal Questions: How to Establish Gaming Policy to Generate Optimal Economic Benefits.”
REMI Managing Economic Associate Chris Judson will be moderating this important webinar. Guest speakers for this discussion are:
- National Council of Legislators from Gaming States (NCLGS) President & Ohio Senator William Coley
- Spectrum Gaming Group Managing Director Michael Pollock
- University of Massachusetts Donahue Institute Senior Research Manager Rod Motamedi
Gaming is surely one of the most regulated industries in the United States, but it is far more than that. It is an industry that many legislators, economists, local businesses, and individuals view as an economic catalyst. As so many stakeholders pin their fiscal and economic hopes on this industry, can it deliver? And what policies can be pursued to help advance those critical goals?
Before the current COVID-19 challenge took hold, the ongoing expansion of sports betting and other new forms of gaming had already reignited and further piqued states’ interest in capitalizing on potential new revenue streams provided by the gaming industry.
These efforts are being further fueled by the reaction to COVID-19. States may now be considering mobile betting as a means of securing new and diversified fiscal revenue streams while promoting a form of gaming that does not require social interaction.
We will provide a specific analysis of those opportunities and challenges before suggesting a long-term roadmap.
We look forward to examining the recent trends in the gaming industry, determining the economic effects of various state approaches to implementing casino gambling, and describing the methodologies utilized in gaming policy assessments during our webinar.