March 20, 2020
UArizona Experts Available to Discuss COVID-19 Economic Impact
TUCSON, Ariz. — On top of being a public health crisis, the COVID-19 outbreak is proving to be an economic crisis as well. The stock market has endured significant losses this month. Airlines and hotels have seen bookings fall dramatically. Many restaurants, bars and retailers have been forced to close or drastically scale back operations.
In short, this is a period of significant uncertainty, and University of Arizona experts are available to shed light on what may be coming for the U.S. economy, businesses and individual consumers, and what recovery might look like.
The following experts are available to speak to media:
- George Hammond is director of the Economic Business Research Center in the Eller College of Management. He can discuss the possibility of a national recession and eventual recovery; industries that are being hit the hardest by stock market losses; and what the average person can do to try to weather the storm. Hammond also offers insights here: Coronavirus Update: Economic Impacts on Arizona.
- George Frisvold is a professor in the Department of Agricultural and Business Economics in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. He can discuss how the pandemic will affect consumer demand and supply chains, as well as food prices, and what happens to consumer spending on food when people eat at home versus at restaurants.
Researcher contact:
George Hammond
Eller College of Management
520-626-1679
ghammond@email.arizona.edu
George Frisvold
College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
520-621-6269
frisvold@ag.arizona.edu
Media contact:
Andy Ober
University Communications
520-621-9017
andyober@email.arizona.edu
The University of Arizona, a land-grant university with two independently accredited medical schools, is one of the nation's top public universities, according to U.S. News & World Report. Established in 1885, the university is widely recognized as a student-centric university and has been designated as a Hispanic Serving Institution by the U.S. Department of Education. The university ranked in the top 20 in 2018 in research expenditures among all public universities, according to the National Science Foundation, and is a leading Research 1 institution with $687 million in annual research expenditures. The university advances the frontiers of interdisciplinary scholarship and entrepreneurial partnerships as a member of the Association of American Universities, the 65 leading public and private research universities in the U.S. It benefits the state with an estimated economic impact of $4.1 billion annually.