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What Is the Cost per Stimulus Job?
As the nation continues to endure troubled labor markets and high unemployment, critics of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) have become more vociferous. Economists and the administration have estimated that perhaps 1.5 million jobs have been created or saved by the stimulus program so far. Critics have divided $787 billion by 1.5 million jobs to derive a disturbingly high estimate of about $525,000 per job. But this approach fails to recognize that so far, only about one-third of the stimulus funds have been expended. According to the Recovery.Gov website, $269 billion in funds had been paid as of January 22, 2010. Dividing $269 billion by 1.5 million gives a very rough estimate of the cost per job of $179,000.

Knowledge@W.P. Carey Feb 03 - Feb 23

ASU-RSI: Drop in Prices in the Foreclosed Homes Market Begins to Slow
The market for foreclosed homes in the Phoenix metro area appears to be approaching a turn around, according to a new index from the Center for Real Estate Theory and Practice at the W. P. Carey School. The median price of foreclosed homes dropped 15 percent in October; but the drop is expected to be 8 percent in November and 2 percent in December. In contrast, prices of homes that have not been in foreclosure dropped 19 percent in October, and are expected to drop 23 percent in December. Prices on non-foreclosed homes have been dropping at about 20 percent per month, year over year, since October 2008. The two segments are responding to different market forces, real estate Professor Karl Guntermann explained.

Podcast: "You Call Is Not That Important To Us"
"Please hold -- your call is important to us." If you've ever heard that sentence then you know what it's like to be "on hold" for customer service. Journalist and author Emily Yellin found herself suspended in customer service no-man's-land when she tried to get her home warranty company to honor their commitments. The experience propelled her to explore the inner workings of the customer service industry, and to write a book about it entitled "Your Call Is (not that) Important to Us." Yellin was a featured speaker at the 20th Annual Compete Through Service Symposium, hosted by the Center for Services Leadership at the W. P. Carey School of Business. She talked with us about the state of customer service today, and how companies might improve. Symposium podcast coverage was sponsored by IBM.

Podcast: Former Mayo Clinic CEO Talks About Reform and the Healthcare Delivery System in the U.S.
Dr. Denis A. Cortese recently retired from the Mayo Clinic, where he was president and CEO, and now leads the W. P. Carey School’s Health Care Delivery and Policy Program. This program is focused on facilitating and promoting a sustainable U.S. health care system. On January 19, Cortese addressed a luncheon meeting of business leaders at the Economic Club of Phoenix. Based at the W. P. Carey School of Business, the Economic Club of Phoenix is the only group of its kind in the nation that is aligned with a top research university.

The Economic Minute: Is Arizona's Recovery Underway?
Is recovery from recession underway? In this month's Economic Minute, Dean Robert Mittelstaedt of the W. P. Carey School of Business takes a look at the Arizona economy. With historically poor employment numbers, a scarcity of good jobs, consumers in debt-reduction mode and state finances in crisis, the real question is how does Arizona regain momentum. Follow the PowerPoint slides for a snapshot of current conditions. The Economic Minute is a regular feature of the W. P. Carey School's monthly Economic Club of Phoenix lunches.

U.S. Macro Outlook: Q3 Turnaround Confirmed
Economy-watchers have marked their calendars for Friday, January 29. That's when the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) releases Q4 figures for Gross Domestic Product (GDP), along with the first estimate for GDP growth for the year 2009. The updated W. P. Carey macro forecast expects that inflation-adjusted GDP grew by 4.0 percent in the fourth quarter and declined for the year by 2.5 percent. If the forecast is realized, the Q4 real growth will be the strongest recorded since Q1 of 2006, when the economy expanded by 5.4 percent (quarterly change at an annualized rate).