By Illinois Radio Network
Chicago, IL – It won't be a crystal ball, but an economic forecasting model that might be useful in state government is coming together at the University of Illinois.
Richard Dye, a researcher in the university's Institute of Government and Public Affairs, says the Fiscal Futures Project is a way to help the state better forecast what's ahead - beyond a year or two.
Dye says he and other researchers want a computer model to determine the long-term impact of budget and policy decisions.
He hopes the project ultimately helps lawmakers understand things such as the impact of aging Baby Boomers on state health costs or how a changing economy will affect tax revenue. Dye says the state is looking at a three-pronged deficit: structural, cyclical, demographic.
The project, to integrate with an economic model already in place at the Urbana-Champaign campus' Regional Economic Applications Laboratory, won't be done in time for Governor Pat Quinn's first budget address this Wednesday.
