CSUDH News

The primary source of news and information about California State University, Dominguez Hills, its students, faculty, and staff.

Economics

3rd Annual South Bay Economic Forecast 

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From the economic implications of marijuana legalization, to delivering gourmet meals to your front door, California State University, Dominguez Hills’ (CSUDH) 2017-18 South Bay Economic Forecast conference on Oct. 5 will showcase some of the most innovative local business models and thinkers, and provide a broad analytical report of the current economic drivers in the region.

Titled “A Region in Transition: Changes and Trends in Consumer Behavior,” the morning conference will be hosted by Frank Mottek, anchor for KNX 1070 NEWSRADIO, and will provide a comprehensive, data-driven report on the current state of the South Bay and Los Angeles County economies, as well as the outlook for 2018.

The economic forecast report will be delivered by Robert Kleinhenz, executive director of research at Los Angeles-based Beacon Economics, the independent research and consulting firm that developed the report for CSUDH.

“The South Bay is one of the more dynamic regions in Southern California, as it has been for decades. Its economy has effectively reached full employment, but this doesn’t mean we will stop growing. Rather, we will proceed at a more measured pace in 2018,” said Kleinhenz regarding one of the findings in the report. “Of course, recent economic prosperity has also translated into higher rents and home prices, contributing to a housing affordability problems that South Bay resident know all too well.”

The third annual forecast event will also include reports by CSUDH professors on regional economic issues, and a consumer trends panel featuring top local industry and education leaders discussing some of the most current trends in business and the news, such as the implications of marijuana legalization, and the rise of online shopping and food delivery services.

South Bay Economic Forecast presenters and panelists:

Shawn Gold, corporate marketing officer for Techstyle Fashion Group in El Segundo. Techstyle’s brands include Fabletics and JustFab. Gold’s remarks will highlight online shopping, including the changing fashion landscape, growth in e-commerce, the struggle of traditional retailers, and the future of fashion retail.

 

Daniel Duran, associate professor of business administration at Whittier College, will cover cannabis production and the environmental and economic impact of growing it in doors, as well as the cost of production, and the tax benefits cannabis offers cities and LA County.

 

 

Kyle Ransford, chief executive officer of the meal kit delivery service Chef’d in El Segundo. Ransford will discuss what goes into the company’s global meal kits, future players in the industry, and Amazon’s purchase of Whole Foods and how it may affect the market.

 

 

Giancarlo Filartiga, vice president of development for Macerich Real Estate, will discuss brick and mortar shopping with an overview of shopping trends, and the City of Carson’s fashion outlets project.

 

 

Christine Cooper, regional economist for the commercial real estate research firm CoStar, will focus her remarks on changing consumer behavior, the use of new technology, and the fast changing influence of social media on the market.

 

 

Fynnwin Prager, assistant professor of business administration and co-director of CSUDH’s South Bay Economics Institute, will share data from the institute’s research project on trends in foreign-owned businesses in Southern California.

 

 

Jose Martinez, assistant professor of economics and co-director of CSUDH’s South Bay Economics Institute, will provide an update of the South Bay housing market, and changes in commuting trends.

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About California State University, Dominguez Hills
California State University, Dominguez Hills, centrally located in the greater Los Angeles South Bay region, is a model urban university with a wide range of academic programming, providing accessible, high quality, and transformative education to students aspiring to succeed and thrive in a complex, global society. Since 1960, CSU Dominguez Hills has served a diverse community of learners and educators collaborating to change lives and communities for the better. A national model and laboratory for student success, the university offers a proven path to opportunity and social equity, advancing a college-focused culture in the communities it serves while providing vital resources of knowledge, talent, and leadership to the greater Los Angeles region and beyond.

Today, CSU Dominguez Hills boasts over 100,000 alumni – doctors, scientists, engineers, educators, entrepreneurs – who are leaders in education, health, technology, entertainment, public service, and business, making a difference in their fields, in people’s lives, and in their communities. For more information, visit www.csudh.edu.

Economics Institute Creates Unique Research Opportunities for Faculty, Students

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Jose N. Martinez, assistant professor of economics, and Fynnwin Prager, assistant professor of public administration.

From the arts and education to public administration and economics, California State University, Dominguez Hills (CSUDH) students from several disciplines painstakingly made one cold call after another until nearly every foreign-owned enterprise in Southern California was surveyed to examine their economic impact in the region.

The time-intensive survey that the 15 CSUDH students conducted served as the statistical foundation for the research report “Foreign Direct Investment in SoCal, 2017 Edition,” which was developed by the new South Bay Economics Institute at CSUDH for the World Trade Center Los Angeles. The report updated and provided a comparative analysis to a 2016 report of the same name by Los Angeles Economic Development Corporation (LAEDC) that examined the economic impact of foreign investment on jobs, firms, and wages in all six Southern California counties.

The 2017 report was the first large-scale research project commissioned to the South Bay Economics Institute, which was launched by Jose N. Martinez, assistant professor of economics, and Fynnwin Prager, assistant professor of public administration, in early 2016. Housed in CSUDH’s College of Business Administration and Public Policy, the institute provides the region–with particular focus on the South Bay–innovative economic curriculum and research that bridges student learning and faculty expertise with the business sector. University partners benefit from proven high-impact resources, economic analysis projects, mentoring, research programs, community outreach opportunities, and more.

“The idea for the Economics Institute spawned from the university’s South Bay Economic Forecast, which is now in its third year,” said Martinez. “We knew that my focus on economics and Fynnwin’s on public administration would enable the institute to be disciplined with analysis, yet contemplative and inclusive in its approach to research and problem solving.”

Comprehensive hands-on research and experience has proven attractive to students who know that exposure to contemporary business practices is important for professionals in all industries.

“The typical research assistant is crunching numbers and collecting data, but what the institute offers is more complete and interesting,” said Martinez. “For example, our students were involved in discussions regarding how to design surveys, collect data, make phone calls, and then analyze the data. They got some well-rounded business education, and the fact that their peers were from many disciplines made it even more inviting for them.”

This university is clearly having an impact on local economies, big and small, and our growth potential is exceptional. – Jose N. Martinez

Based in part on the results of the survey the students conducted, the institute’s foreign investment report found that there are an estimated 9,964 foreign-owned firms in Southern California, representing 1.2 percent of all firms in the region and employing 4.3 percent of the region’s workers, who earn close to $27.4 billion in wages. Japanese firms remain the largest contributor to Southern California with the United Kingdom, Canada, France, and Germany completing the top five nations.

This summer, the professors shared their and the students’ work at the 3rd annual SelectLA Investment Summit, an event attended by approximately 400 foreign investors and local leaders.

“The report was well received and our clients were happy with the results,” said Prager. “This is important data to have available for investors. They may now use the updated study to promote the area, and to show that there are benefits for companies coming here, despite the current political environment. There are many foreign-owned firms in So Cal in a variety of industries, and more of them continue to come. This data is critical.”

Cross-Campus Collaboration

A large part of the institute’s mission is to help facilitate faculty economic development by providing research resources, grant writing, connections to local business and civic communities, and other services.

“The faculty’s expertise and cultural diversity provide a lot of unique collaboration opportunities on campus, which fits in well with the institute,” said Martinez. “In economics, we look at data, how it is applied, and interpret the results, but that can often lack such nuances as the policy implications of the work we’re doing. Public administration, for example, provides the ‘why this matters’ to the work for clients and the public at large. There is potential for many faculty members to provide their unique knowledge and skills to economic research.”

Whether it is for a new business project, environmental impact report, or other types of studies, Prager believes “there is clearly a demand in the marketplace” for the South Bay Economics Institute and the university to assist local businesses and organizations, as well as non-governmental organizations (NGO) like the LAEDC.

In fact, the institute may soon launch a project with a faculty member to research the impact of local economic development agencies, such as the LAEDC, on entrepreneurial activity in the region.

“There are so many business resources on campus, and it keeps growing,” said Prager. “We have the Innovation Incubator, the Entrepreneurial Institute@CSUDH, and an exceptional business college. This university is clearly having an impact on local economies–big and small–and our growth potential is exceptional.”

Faculty Highlights: July 2017

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Our faculty members participate in conferences around the world, conduct groundbreaking research, and publish books and journal papers that contribute to their field and highlight their expertise. We feature those accomplishments and more in this section.

College of Arts and Humanities

Devon TsunoAssistant Professor of Art Devon Tsuno‘s painting “Watershed 3,” part of the “80/50 Quiet Storm” exhibit in the Denk Gallery in Los Angeles through Aug. 19, was named “Pick of the Week” by Artillery Magazine and positively reviewed by art critic Ezrha Jean Black. Tsuno has also joined artists Hung Viet Nguyen and Erin Harmon to create “Verdant Loop,” which presents landscape as an “invented not-nature where pattern, surface, and color, conflate space and illusion.” Their work will exhibit Aug. 5-27 at Tiger Strikes Asteroid in Los Angeles.

 

 

Gilah Yelin Hirsch in her studioGilah Yelin Hirsch, professor of art, has published her article “Imaging the Nature of Health Towards Social Harmony” in the journal “Symmetry: Art and Science,” which is published by The International Society for the Interdisciplinary Study of Symmetry.

 

 

 

 

College of Natural and Behavioral Sciences

Mekada GrahamIn May 2017, Maria Avila and Mekada Graham, assistant professors of social work, traveled to England to present their work on “narrative inquiry” to social work academics at the Royal Holloway University of London, and at the Queens College, University of Kingston. Avila traveled to Puerto Rico during spring break 2017 with three CSUDH students to conduct a community-based research project in conjunction with the Universidad Central de Bayamon’s Social Work Department. While in the country, the researchers visited the capitol to learn about the Puerto Rico’s status as a United States territory, and to observe a student-led protest at the Universidad de Puerto Rico.

 

College of Business Administration and Public Policy

Fynnwin Prager, assistant professor of public administration, and Jose Martinez, assistant professor of finance and economics, presented their study “Foreign Direct Investment in Southern California: 2017 Edition” during the SelectLA Investment Summit, which was hosted by the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation (LAEDC) in June 2017. Prager’s and Martinez’s report builds upon analysis of direct foreign investment in the region conducted by the World Trade Center Los Angeles and the LAEDC in 2016.

 

 

Richard MalamudRichard Malamud, professor of accounting and finance, published the article “REACT – What to do when you are a first time executor or trustee” in the August 2017 edition of Spidell’s Federal Taxletter.

 

 

 

 

Steven Golightly, assistant professor of public administration, and director of the Los Angeles County Child Support Services Department (CSSD), received the Clarence A. Dykstra Award for Excellence in Government on May 22 in Los Angeles at the 69th Annual Awards Luncheon of the Southern California Chapter of the American Society for Public Administration (ASPA). He was recognized for the CSSD’s innovative efforts to improve child support services for Los Angeles County residents, and for “his zeal for developing future leaders for government service to the public.”

Recent quotes and/or interviews in the media from faculty

Leonardo Jose Martinez

“We noticed that there is a lot of clustering among sectors,” Martinez said. “In Los Angeles County, a firm in the retail and wholesale sector is able to see more than 40 other enterprises in the same sector” within a 5-mile radius.”- Jose Martinez, assistant professor of finance and economics, was quoted in the Daily Breeze article “Why LA’s tech market is working to woo foreign investors.”

 

 

 

Nancy Cheever“The more people use their phone, the more anxious they are about using their phone.” – Nancy Cheever, professor of communications, was interviewed on campus by ABC News Correspondent TJ Holmes for the feature “Excessive Cellphone Use May Cause Anxiety, Experts Say,” which aired on Good Morning America July 28.