Howard Wall, chief economist for the Center for Regional Economic Research, has been at UTC since 2024. Photo by Angela Foster.
Since coming to the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga in 2024, Dr. Howard Wall—director and chief economist of the UTC Center for Regional Economic Research—has gained insight into the Chattanooga community through his research.
His primary focus is on the local economy and how decisions impact the regional landscape. His main research interests are applied econometrics and the intersection of macroeconomics and regional economics.
Before joining UTC, Wall was a professor of economics and director of the Center for Applied Economics at Lindenwood University in St. Charles, Missouri. Prior to that, he spent 12 years at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, where he was a vice president and regional economics adviser.
A native of upstate New York, Wall’s work has been published in the Review of Economics and Statistics, International Economic Review, Economic Journal, Journal for Urban Economics, Regional Science and Urban Economics, Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, and the Journal of Regional Science.
Could you explain the work of the Center for Regional Economic Research?
“Primarily, the research in the center is about the Chattanooga regional economy. My academic research is usually related to that, but my interests are pretty varied. What I’m working on now is a variety of things about Chattanooga, refining my forecasting model, writing some academic research based on some of the things that I’ve done for the local economy and with labor markets locally, and a lot of things about local trends—both recently and in the last 20 to 30 years.
“I’m just trying to learn a lot about the local economy, frankly. I’ve been doing it for two years and I think I know an awful lot, but there’s always more to learn. You have to stay ahead of the game since there’s so much going on.”
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Has your research been a helpful tool since moving to the city?
“Coming here with this position and in Chattanooga has been amazing because it’s been a relatively booming local economy. I came from St. Louis, which was not very booming. The University, the business school, the city and others in the community have been great to talk to me and help me out. And for me to help them out, they actually come and ask me for technical advice. It’s really good for an economist to be wanted, I suppose.”
When did economics come on your radar? Was it always the goal?
“No, it was not to be an economist at all. Back when I was in college in the early ’80s, economics was not really well known. It wasn’t taught in high school, so I didn’t even know it existed.
“I wanted to go to law school. I went away to Binghamton (New York) to be an undergraduate and thought I’d go back to Albany (New York) to go to law school. I was a history and English major, then got a bit interested in political science and policy. An RA on my floor who was an economics major convinced a bunch of us to take an intro to economics class.
“I sat in that class and it all just fell into place—how it was being taught, the logic, the models. I really liked the structure of it and everything about it. It was an interesting time. It was like 1981, ’82 for the economics debate with “Reaganomics” and all that. I fell into it by chance of having an RA who talked me into taking a class and here I am.”
What’s your favorite aspect of the work?
“I mean, I’m a nerd. I just really like doing it and learning it for myself, but also communicating it to others. Throughout my career, that’s always been part of the fun; if you learn something new or realize something, I like to share it with students, the community, businesspeople or other economists.
“I’ve always liked teaching. It’s helped me in my current job, which involves a lot of communicating with the public and giving public talks. I sincerely want them to understand complicated things and make it not that complicated for them.”
For students interested in your research or economics, how would you encourage them to pursue that path?
“Economics is an odd duck among subjects. People take a course and like it or don’t, but they have to stick with it. Keep at it and don’t read the newspaper to learn economics. Read the opposite of the newspaper, read some basic economics, and then you’ll see how that helps you read the newspaper and figure out what’s going on.”
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