Inforum, or the Interindustry Forecasting Project at the University of Maryland, was founded 45 years ago by Dr. Clopper Almon, now Professor Emeritus of the University. It is dedicated to improving business planning, government policy analysis, and the general understanding of the economic environment. Inforum accomplishes this mission through:
Building and using structural economic models of U.S. and other economies. Inforum pioneered the construction of dynamic, interindustry, macroeconomic models which portray the economy in a unique "bottom-up" fashion.
Working with government and private sector research sponsors to investigate a variety of issues. Economic projections and analysis using Inforum econometric models are distinguished by detail at the industrial and product level.
Serving as a training crucible for University of Maryland graduate and undergraduate students who receive valuable training in empirical economics. Indeed, Inforum graduate research assistants have completed over 40 Ph.D. dissertations, most of which have contributed directly to the infrastructure of Inforum.
Maintaining active and productive ties with a world-wide network of research associates, each of which uses Inforum modeling methods and software. The Inforum partners have held annual conferences since 1993 to foster cooperation and development of economic knowledge and techniques.
Since its founding in 1967 by Dr. Clopper Almon, Inforum has served government agencies and private sector entities interested in economic analysis facilitated by Inforum's approach. In particular, Interindustry-Macroeconomic (IM) models combine input-output structure with econometric equations in a dynamic and detailed framework. Because of their ability to portray the detailed structure of economies over actual time periods, these models fill an important gap in the inventory of existing models of the U.S. and foreign economies. In addition to forecasting, the models are often used to answer "what if" questions on the impact across industries of fluctuation in the macroeconomic environment, such as changes in exchange rate or tax policy.
NEWS HEADLINES
Selected news stories are listed below. A complete listing of recent news also is available.
| The Manufacturing Resurgence: What It Could Mean for the U.S. Economy
March 2013 - The Aspen Institute and MAPI (Manufacturers
Alliance for Productivity and Innovation) partnered with Inforum to study how a manufacturing
resurgence would affect the U.S. economy. The study provides policy recommendations to take
advantage of current momentum and bolster manufacturing growth. Additionally, the paper compares how the economy would look
following two different growth scenarios. The full paper and a press release are available. |
2012 Inforum Outlook Conference
December 2012 - Inforum held its 45th annual outlook conference at the University of Maryland. About 90
representatives from government, private industry, and academic organizations participated in the event. The conference
agenda and other details are
available, including slides and video of the outlook presentation. |
| Fiscal Shock: America's Economic Crisis
October 2012 - Inforum and the National Association of
Manufacturers conducted a study of the economic impacts of fiscal
policies specified in the Budget Control Act of 2011. The study
extended earlier work, published in June 2012, by considering economic
effects of tax increases and cuts to nondefense expenditures as well as
the defense spending cuts studied earlier. In addition to long-run
effects, immediate effects due to anticipation of future changes also
are considered. |
Failure to Act: The Economic Impact Of Current Investment Trends in Airports, Inland Waterways, and Marine Ports Infrastructure
September, 2012 - Inforum and the Economic Development Research Group
investigated the economic impacts of the deterioration of airports,
marine ports, and inland waterway transportation infrastructure over the
next 30 years. The work was sponsored by the American Society of Civil Engineers. |