Dear Colleagues:

Perhaps the most basic fear about the future of our region’s economy is that it was built on manufacturing and manufacturing in the United States (never mind Ohio) is pretty much doomed. The current wave of shutdowns in the auto industry only exacerbates those fears. It is commonly argued that the U.S. must move to a different kind of economy. Among the claims are that:

* We just can’t compete with Chinese labor costs.
* Manufacturing is inherently a low skill activity.
* Innovation is only done by a few geniuses.
* Geography doesn’t matter anymore in the age of the Internet.

All of which would suggest that there is no future in manufacturing or in particular the auto industry.

But is it true? Susan Helper is much less pessimistic. Dr. Helper is SBC Professor of Regional Economic Development at Case Western Reserve University. She is also a Research Associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research and the MIT International Motor Vehicle Program. Her research focuses on the impacts of collaborative relationships, between suppliers and customers and management and labor. Currently she is looking at the impact of globalization of supply chains on regional development and innovation in the US, Mexico, and India. She has published in journals such as American Economic Review, Sloan Management Review, and Journal of Economics and Management Strategy. She has a Ph.D. from Harvard University and a BA from Oberlin College. In 2005-6 she was a visiting scholar at the University of California, Berkeley, and the University of Oxford. Recently she has been working on a project on “shared prosperity” with the Economic Policy Institute. She argues that, while the world is becoming more “flat”, in that goods and money flow ever more quickly around the globe, local “clusters” of production in places such as Silicon Valley (and Northeast Ohio) remain important. Promoting networks within and between firms can lead to a highly productive economy, while maintaining community.

Please join us on Friday, March 2, from 12:30 ― 1:30 p.m. in Crawford Hall Room 9 as Professor Helper leads a discussion of these issues. Room 9 is on the lowest level of Crawford Hall, across from Access Services, within the Inamori Center. Hot beverages are provided by the Office of University Communications and cookies by generous donors to the Center for Policy Studies.

If you’d like an update on the auto industry in Ohio, by the way, you might check out: http://www.clevelandfed.org/Research/Trends/2007/0207/01regact_013107.cfm

Best regards,
Joe White

More About Our Guest

Susan Helper is SBC Professor of Regional Economic Development at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. She is also a Research Associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) and the MIT International Motor Vehicle Program (IMVP). Her research focuses on the impacts of collaborative relationships, between suppliers and customers and management and labor. Currently she is studying how globalization of supply chains affects development and innovation in the US, Mexico, and India. She has published in journals such as American Economic Review, Sloan Management Review, and Journal of Economics and Management Strategy. She has a Ph.D. from Harvard University and a BA from Oberlin College. In 2005-06 she was a visiting scholar at the University of California, Berkeley, and the University of Oxford.

Spring Semester Schedule

Beginning on February 2, the Friday Lunch will move back to Crawford Hall, in ROOM 9. Room 9 is within the Inamori Center, on the basement level of Crawford.

It is very kind of Bill Deal, Director of the Inamori Center, to make this room available on a regular basis. Thank you, Bill!

Room 9 seats 35, with a central table and also chairs along the wall. It should be a better setup than Guilford. If we expect a large crowd, we may be able to open a partition and join up with Room 11.

There will, however, be a class in the room until 12:20. Therefore it will not be possible to get there much before the lunch begins. On the other hand, people who are a bit early should be able to hang out in the Tomlinson food court. I believe the underground passage from Tomlinson to Crawford will be restored when construction is finished.

Coffee will be provided from the SAGES Cafe’. Which should mean very good coffee.

The tentative schedule of speakers, so far:

January 26: Phil (Perkins Professor of Physics-Case Western Reserve University) and Sarah Taylor, Wind Power and All of It’s Aspects – Environmental, Energy,  Economic, Aesthetic, and Maybe More.

February 2: Ken Grundy, Marcus Hanna Professor Emeritus of Political Science, on subject to be determined

February 9: Paul Schroeder, Visiting Lecturer in Political Science and from Families of the Fallen for Change, on what to do in Iraq

February 16: Mark Turner, Professor of Cognitive Science, on cognition and politics

February 23: Mel Goldstein, Professor of Anthropology, on why the Chinese are winning in Tibet

March 2: Susan Helper, Professor of Economics, on strategies for American workers within the current global competition.

March 9: Baiju Shah, President, Bioenterprise Corporation, on the new economic prospects in Cleveland.

March 16: Break

March 23: Mike Aronoff of Cuyahoga County on the evaluation of sexual predators for the courts―are they really dangerous, and can we predict if they will reoffend?

March 30: Barbara Morrison, Assistant Professor of Nursing, on how current patterns of care for Moms and newborns deny them the peace and quiet and bonding they need.

April 6: Horst von Recum, Assistant Professor of Biomedical Engineering; Insoo Hyun, Assistant Professor of Bioethics; and Greg Eastwood, Interim President of Case Western Reserve University on Stem Cell Research.

April 13: Marixa Lasso, Assistant Professor of History: Drugs, War, and Coffee in Colombia

April 20: Mark Joseph, Assistant Professor, Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences: Mixed-Income Development as an Approach to Addressing Urban Poverty

April 27: Christine Cano, Associate Professor of French, on the French elections (this date falls between the first round and the runoff election)

Parking: For those people who seek to make special arrangements about parking, the contact person now will be Fay Alexander.  Her phone number is 368-4440, and her e-mail is fabrienne.alexander@case.edu.