TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - The 2003 Economic Outlook Conference presented by The University of Alabama’s Center for Business and Economic Research is scheduled for Thursday, Jan. 16 at the Embassy Suites Hotel in Montgomery.

“The globe continues to shrink,” said Dr. Carl Ferguson, director of UA’s Center for Business and Economic Research. “Globalization is on everyone’s mind these days and nowhere is that more evident than right here, with the investment of Mercedes, Hyundai, Honda, and Toyota in Alabama. Business leaders who have an understanding of international business have a competitive advantage over those who do not, and we expect the state’s business community to have a considerable amount of interest in the upcoming outlook conference and in hearing what our speakers have to say about globalization and its ramifications.”

Harry Harding, dean of the Elliot School of International Affairs at The George Washington University, will be the luncheon speaker. He will speak on “Globalization and Conflict: The Search for a New World Order.”

In addition to Harding, speakers include:

Nariman Behravesh, chief economist for Global Insight, who will present the United States economic outlook, and

Carl Ferguson, director of the Center for Business and Economic Research, who will address the Alabama Outlook.

Conference sponsors this year include Alabama Power; Compass Bank; Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Alabama; Sterne, Agee & Leach Inc.; United Parcel Service; and Vulcan Materials Co.

The conference registration fee is $95, which includes the Alabama Economic Outlook 2003, conference materials, and lunch.

Registration deadline is Jan. 9, 2003. For more information call 205-348-6191 or e-mail uacber@cba.ua.edu.

CBER is Alabama’s central reservoir for business, economic and demographic data. Since its creation in 1930, CBER has engaged in research programs to promote economic development in the state, while continuously expanding and refining its broad base of socioeconomic information. To forecast the level of activity in Alabama, CBER developed an econometric model of the state. Beginning in 1980, output from the model has been published in the annual Alabama Economic Outlook series.