2022 Orange County Economic Outlook

Jerry Nickelsburg, Director, UCLA Anderson Forecast

Jerry Nickelsburg joined the UCLA Anderson School of Management and the UCLA Anderson Forecast in 2006. Since 2017, he has served as faculty director of the Forecast. He earned his Ph.D. in economics from the University of Minnesota, specializing in monetary economics and econometrics.

Nickelsburg plays a key role in the economic modeling and forecasting of the national, California and regional economic forecasts. He researches labor economics, industrial organization, statistics and international monetary economics, focusing on the development of new data and the application of economic theory and statistical methods to sector-specific policy issues. His current research encompasses transportation and environmental economics, and the relationships between highly skilled persons and their demand for social insurance. He has conducted special studies into the future of manufacturing in Los Angeles, the economic impact of the writers’ strike, the undocumented construction and manufacturing labor force, and the garment industry.

Formerly a professor of economics at the University of Southern California, Nickelsburg held executive positions with McDonnell Douglas, FlightSafety International and FlightSafety Boeing during a 15-year span in the aviation business. He developed forecasting tools for the Federal Reserve Board of Governors and has advised banks, investors and financial institutions. From 2000 to 2006, he was the managing principal of Deep Blue Economics, a consulting firm he founded.

Nickelsburg teaches economics in UCLA Anderson’s MBA program, with a focus on business forecasting and international business economics. He travels regularly with students to Asia as professor and advisor in their global immersion courses.

Nickelsburg is cited by the national media, with frequent mentions in the Financial Times, Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Los Angeles Times and Reuters. He has published more than 100 scholarly and popular articles on economic policy, monetary economics, statistics, labor economics and industrial organization, and he is the author of two books on monetary economics and exchange rates.

William Yu, Economist, UCLA Anderson Forecast

Economist William Yu joined the UCLA Anderson Forecast in 2011. He focuses on forecasting within the Southern California economy and analyzes the U.S. and China economies. His research interests encompass a wide range of economic and financial issues, such as time series econometrics, data analytics, housing markets, human capital and innovation. Meanwhile, he teaches time series and predictive analytics at the UCLA Anderson School’s Master of Business Analytics program and data science certificate courses, including machine learning, at UCLA Extension. In 2019, he received the distinguished instructor award for digital technology from UCLA Extension. He also serves as a faculty advisor for Applied Management Research and Business Creation Option Programs at Anderson School.

He has published over a dozen research articles in Journal of Forecasting, International Journal of Forecasting, Journal of International Money and Finance, Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, etc. He developed the City Human Capital Index, the Los Angeles City Employment Estimate, and wrote the US-China economic reports. With his colleagues, he developed a microbusiness index tracking online business activities across the country. He has been cited in the local, national and overseas media frequently including Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, New York Times, Washington Post, Time, Bloomberg, CBS, NBC, ABC, CNBC, L.A. Business Journal as well as various Chinese and Korean media. A sought-after speaker, he has contributed his expertise to various events, including the annual Woo Greater China Business Conference, Cathay Bank economic outlook luncheons, and National Association for Business Economics.

He received his bachelor’s degree in finance from National Taiwan University in 1995 and was an analyst in Fubon Financial Group in Taipei from 1997 to 2000. In 2006, he received his Ph.D. degree in economics from the University of Washington where he was also an economics instructor and won two distinguished teaching awards. In 2006, he worked for the Frank Russell Investment Group for Treasury and corporate yields modeling and forecasting. From 2006 to 2011, he served as an assistant and an associate professor of economics at Winona State University where he taught courses including forecasting methods, managerial economics, international economics, and macroeconomics.

Mark Schniepp, Principal, California Economic Forecast

Dr. Schniepp is  Director of the California Economic Forecast in Santa Barbara. The company prepares forecasts and commentary on the regional economies of California.

He prepares economic analysis and regional forecasts for Caltrans, Kaiser Permanente,  Exxon Mobil, and the Southern California Association of Governments.

Dr. Schniepp develops regional real estate and economic forecast publications and presents the findings at large public conferences in Santa Barbara County, Ventura County, and the Santa Clarita Valley.

Dr. Schniepp participates with the UCLA Anderson Forecast in the preparation of the annual Orange County Economic Forecast and the San Diego County Economic Forecast, which are held in the spring of each year.

He presents updated U.S, and California economic and demographic information to a number of organizations at over 25 conferences throughout the year.

Dr. Schniepp served as senior economist to Kathleen Connell, the California State Controller from 1999 to 2003.

Dr. Schniepp served as Director of the Economic Forecast Project at the University of California, Santa Barbara, between 1985 and 2000.

As a past faculty member in the Department of Economics at the University of California, Santa Barbara, he taught intermediate microeconomic and macroeconomic theory, applied regional modeling, applied econometrics, and forecasting, from 1982 to 1991.

Dr Schniepp received his Ph.D. from the University of California, Santa Barbara in 1985.  His fields of research for the degree were econometrics, regional economics, and natural resource economics.

N. Edward Coulson, Professor of Economics and Director of the Center for Real Estate, UCI Paul Merage School of Business

UCI Paul Merage School of Business welcomed prominent Professor of Economics N. Edward Coulson into our faculty in 2016. He teaches in the area of Economics and Public Policy and serves in the school’s Center for Real Estate as Director of Research. In this capacity, Coulson advances the real estate program’s agenda of excellence in teaching, research and professional outreach. 

Coulson received a Bachelor of Science in Economics from the University of California, Riverside, and a PhD from UC San Diego, where he studied under the direction of Nobel Laureate Robert Engle. He previously served as professor of Economics and director of the Lied Institute for Real Estate Studies at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Prior to UNLV, he served as professor of Economics and King Faculty Fellow in Real Estate at The Pennsylvania State University where he had been a member of the faculty since 1984 and had received numerous outstanding teaching awards.

Among the many topics Professor Coulson has done research on are: the mismeasurement of rent in the Consumer Price Index, and its implications for macroeconomic policy;  the bias in residential appraisals; the impact of homeownership on people’s lives and neighborhoods; home prices; multifamily housing and its management; historic districts; the relationship between REITs and other asset markets; and many others.  His co-edited book Energy Efficiency and the Future of Real Estate was published by Palgrave Press in 2017, 

In addition to his extensive research, Coulson has served as co-editor of numerous journals and  served as president of the American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association (AREUEA) in 2016.

Timothy M. Hutter, Partner, Allen Matkins

Timothy Hutter is a partner in our San Diego office, where he practices in the firm's Litigation and Land Use groups. Tim's practice focuses primarily on business and real estate disputes, including contract, construction, joint venture, entitlement, land use and commercial landlord/tenant litigation. Many of his projects and cases involve residential and mixed-use projects, and several invoke California's density bonus law to incorporate and develop affordable housing. Tim also handles cases on appeal, and has successfully represented clients in the California Court of Appeal and the California Supreme Court.