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The er of Economic Education Newsletter Federal Reserve Bank of Boston Vol. 19, No. 1 Spring 1993 Economic Highlights of 1992 H ERE, FOR )OUR READI 'C PLEA,URE \ D [Dlfl(.ATION, IS OL.:R LIST OF L \ST YEAR\ ECONOMIC HICHLICI ITS. ASALWAYS, THE ST1\NDARD C \U 4f Al'l'LIES: W U,\-\k.E NO CL \IM peop le were .sure that post-G ul f War euphoria wo uld trigger an increase in co nsumer co nfid ence, and everything wou ld fa ll into place by El ectio n Day. Tl I.\ T OLR, IS T H E Dffli\.lTIVE LIST, NOR DO \\E PRETEND TO orFER Al\. 11'. - DEPHI \l\.,\L)SIS OF [,\( H EVENT . W E I.EAVE THAT UI' ro YOU. EA( H SE( TION CONUUD[S WITH TAl.KING P O INTS I TL',D[I) TO TRICC.ER 01,cuss10,. The 1992 Presidential Election: "It's the economy, stupid!" he U.S. pres idential election has o be th e top economic news story of 1992. Foreign affairs, Murphy Brown, and family valu es garnered their share of headlin es during the ca mpaign , but co ncern over the economy decided the outcome. Rightly or w rongly, voters held the Bush Admini stration res ponsible for fo ur yea rs of slu ggish economi c activity. After the poll s closed on November 3, 1992, Bill Cl inton was on his way to the White House, and George Bush was preparing for a return to private li fe. Eighteen months earlier hardly anyone wou ld have thought thi s outco me possi ble. Victory in the Gulf W ar had propelled George Bush's approval rating to 91 perce nt, and a second Bush Administration seemed all but guaranteed. The 1992 presidential election was shaping up to be little more than a fo rm ality. Never mind that the economy showed persistent signs of weakness. The Bush https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis But instead of falling into place, everything seemed to fa ll apa rt. After a brief sp urt, consum er confidence retreated, and th e robust recovery fai led to materialize. In fact, th ere was co nsiderab le disagreement as to w hether or not even a modest recovery was in th e offi ng. A se ri es of high-profi le lay-offs at major U.S. co rporation s added to th e overall sense of gloo m and uncertainty. People w ho were fortunate enough to still have jobs were more in cl in ed to reduce old debts rath er than to make major new purchases. Th e economi c uncertainty mad e fo r an unusual presidentia l ca mpa ign. After the Gul f War, big-name Democrats had all but co nceded the 1992 race to George Bush , but by late 1991 they were ki ck ing themse lves for being so hasty. Less fa mili ar Democrats, w ho for th e most part viewed the 1992 race as a tun e-up for 1996, scrambl ed to establi sh themselves after they rea lized that the President was vul nerable on domestic issues. To make matters even more interesting, third-party ca ndidate Ross Perot declared ·hi s ca ndid acy, dropped out of the race, and then made a surpri se reentry in th e fa ll . By th e time of the televised debates in October, all three ca ndidates realized th at the economy was the number one issue in voters' min ds, and all three ca mpaigned accordingly. Clinton emphasized " hope" and "change" and released a "detai led " economi c plan. (A now-fa mous sign that hung in his ca mpai gn headq uarter.s was less detai led bu t to th e po int: " It's th e economy, stupid! "). Perot bought halfhour blocks of time on national television and used pie charts to talk about the defici t. (To the surprise of man y, Perot and hi s pie charts drew a sizab le audience.) On Nove mber 3, Bill Clinton won the presidency by a comfortable margin, and, fo r whatever reaso n, the Consumer Co nfidence Index, wh ich had stood at 54.6 in October, jumped to 78. 1 in December. Where it wi ll be in December 1993 is anyone 's guess. Talking Points In recent yea rs, Americans have begun to focus mo re closely on the notion of consumer confidence as reflected in a monthly survey known as the Consumer Confidence Index. How important a factor is consumer confidence? Can low consumer confiden ce send the economy into recess ion ? Can high co nsum e r confidence propel the economy into recovery ? Or might other factors be more significant? -~ Twentieth-century presidents have often tried to spur economic growth by making "upbeat " speeches. Much of the time their rhetorical efforts have fallen short. What ca n a president actually do to stimu late economic growth? L.A. Riots: Can't we all get along? l he incident had taken place on March 3, 1991 just before one o'clock in the morning. A bystander had captured it all on videotape. The chi lling 81-second segment showed four white Los Angeles police officers delivering 56 blows to African-American motorist Rodney King following a high-speed car chase . Just over a year later, on April 28, 1992, a jury in Simi Valley, California found the four office rs " not gu ilty" of assau lt. (The tr ial had been moved to suburban Simi Val ley after the defense o ntended that a fair tria l would not have bee n possible in Los Angel es County.) The verd ict triggered an outbreak of looting, rioting, and violence, the likes of which had not been seen in the United States sin ce the late 1960s. Looters trashed stores and carried off armloads of consume r goods and groce ri es. Businesses in the city's Koreatown section were especia ll y hard-hit, but the violence was not limited to a particular neighborhood. Fires blazed from South-Central Los Angeles to Beverly Hills. Thick clouds of smoke made it necessary to re-route planes approaching Los Angeles International Airport. The violence and the looting eventually subsided, but the 72 hours of civil unrest had exacted a staggering cost: 58 dead, more than 4,000 injured, ove r 12,000 arrests, and upwards of $1 billion in prope rty damage. Even as firefighters we re still hosin g down smo ldering ru ins, po liti cians, so ial scienti sts, columni sts, and comme ntators were trying to co me up with explanations fo r what had happened. Some pointed to the poverty rate, which had jumped from 11 p rcent during the 1970s to almost 15 p rcent in 1992. Others blamed cu tbacks in federal aid to cities. Another often-cited factor was the dramatic loss of manufacturing jobs in urban areas. For decades, the promise of steady work in urban factories had lured migrants to American cities. People with little education and few skills were able to improve their fortu nes by landing a factory job . Although the work may not always have been pleasant, the pay wasn 't bad. But during the 1980s, fa tory jobs began to disappear at an alarming rate. In recent yea rs, South-Central Los https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis Angeles had experienced the loss of auto assembly, aircraft assembly, and tire manufacturing plants. Other explanation for the L.A. ri ots, and the plight of U.S. cities in general, have focused on th widesp read avai labi lity of era k coca ine and handguns, the perceived weaknesses of urban school systems, and the entrenched strength of street gangs. But whatever the reason, there seemed to be general agreement on the need to encourage economic development efforts in Los Angeles and other cities. Talking Points What factors have been responsible for the loss of manufacturing jobs in U.S. cities? ·t What ca n be done to foster economic growth in U.S. urban areas? Stress Test: Unrest in Germany and the Financial Strain of Reunification G ermans have had to face the fact that getting back together can be difficult. The spontaneous celebrations that accompanied reunification in 1990 gave way to viol nt attacks on fo reigners in 1992. Last year, violence by extrem ist groups in Germany claimed th e lives of 18 victims. One of the most tragic in cidents occ urred in late November w hen sk inh eads chanting neo-Nazi slogans firebombed a dormitory housing fore igners in the northe rn German city of M oe lln . A grand moth er, her grandda ughter, and a niece died in the flames; all three were members of Germany's Turkish community. The Moelln attack prompted an outpouring of concern o n the part of Germans ap palled by the esca latin g violence. More than 10,000 people attended funeral ceremonies, and well ove r 150,000 marchers took to the streets of Munich to oppose neoNazi extremism. There seems to be general agreement that the rapid pace of reunification is largely responsible for Germany's econom ic and socia l turmoil. The cost of reuniti ng east and west is currently pegged at $100 billion a year and is ce rta in to go hi gher. Much of the money is being used to soften the impact of immediately adopting a single German currency and to cushion the blow of closing so many uncompetitive factories in the former East Germany. (More than three million East Germans are now out of work. That's app rox imately 15 percent of the workforce. ) Initially, the German government was reluctant to pay fo r reunification by raising taxes, preferring instead to rely on increased borrowing. Th at, coupled with pressure from labo r uni ons to adopt a policy of wage parity between east and west, created inflati ona ry pressures that prompted Germany's centra l bank to push for higher interest rates. At the sa me time, the government moved to cut socia l programs and industrial subsidi es in the west in order to free up funds to aid the east. To compli cate matters, the German economy slipped into recession during 1992, and the future looked fa r less rosy than it had in 1990. Naturally, when things get bad, people look around for someone to blame, and in Germany some began to take out their frustrations on the country's sizable fo reign population. During the 1950s and 1960s, in an effort to fill many of the jobs that Germans were reluctant to accept, West Germany encouraged the immigration -but not the assimilation or naturalization - of "guest workers" from cou ntries such as Turkey. For more than 40 years, Germany also has had an extra ordina rily liberal asylum poli cy that granted automatic haven to "victims of persecution." Ever sin ce the fa ll of Communist regimes throughout Eastern Eu rope, migrants have taken advantage of the policy and flocked to Germany in sea rch of eco no mi c op portunity. When the hard realities of reunification set in, a number of disaffected Germans lashed out at the foreigners. Fortunately, a much larger number of Germans turned out for massive demonstrations to express their outrage over the actions of neo-Naz i extrem ists. Talking Points Why do you think factories in East Germany were less competitive than tho e in West Germany? 'i' Why do hate crimes seem to in crease when economic conditions worsen? how the agree ment might affect the American bi otec hnology indu stry . And U.S. negotiato rs fought long and hard to soften th e cl imate treaty so as to have no firm targets or tim etab les for red ucing emissions of carbon d iox ide and other heat trapp ing gases thought to cause global wa rmin g. There we re also substantial areas of disagreement between the relatively sma ll number of wealthy industrialized cou ntries and the mu ch larger number of poo rer co untri es. M ost of the disagreement was ove r mo ney. The poorer nations sought greater contributions fro m the wea lthy in ord er to offset the cost of switching to form s of eco nomi c develo pment th at wou ld not pollute the air or destroy large tracts of fo restland . Fro m their perspective, enviro nmentally sound deve lopme nt benefitted everyo ne, but the econo mi c costs were borne almost entirely by the poor nati ons. In effect, the poorer nations were saying to the industrialized world , "W e may be w illing to go slow on clearing o ur forests and to adopt stri cter enviro nmental sta ndard s, but it w ill cost you because polluti o n co ntro ls are ex pensive and fa ilure to ex ploit our natura l resources costs us jobs and ex port doll ars." Th ere were also issues of sove reignty and natio nal prid e. The poorer natio ns see med to resent the fact th at wea lthy nations were aski ng them to forgo develop ment options that, not so long ago, had been standard practice in t he industrialized wo rld . Yet for all the disagree ment, th e Earth Su mmi t produced tangibl e res ults that could serve as the basis for slowing environm enta l deteri oratio n worldwide. Before the summi t adjourn ed, wea lthy nati ons agreed to work toward an increase in aid for environmen tallysound development in poorer cou ntries; the United States ultim ate ly signed a wate red-down versio n of the cli mate treaty; and delegates voted to fo rm the Sustainable Develop ment Co mmission, an international watchdog group modeled after the United Nati ons Human Rights Co mmission. Its mission would be to foster policies co mpatibl e w ith environm enta l preservati on by issuing reports and co mplaints against the worst offenders. Perhaps most important of all, the fi rst Earth Summit focused worldwide attenti on on globa l environmental concerns and establi shed international mechanisms for dealing with the complexities su rrounding those concerns. Other summ its have accomplished far less. Talking Points Wh y have the less developed countries lagged behind the richer industrialized countries in taking steps to protect the environment? ~ Why are the richer nations concerned over environmental condition s in less developed countries? Multi-Media Banking Basics , booklet, published by the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston , 32 pages. Banking Basics, a co l o rful new publi catio n from th e Federal Rese rve Bank of Boston, is intended to help middl e school and high schoo l students gai n a better understa nding of banki ng. A lth ough it isn 't meant to cover everything there is to know, it answers many of the most commonl y asked questions about banks and banking; questions that range from "Wh at is a bank?" to "Why do banks fa il, and what happens whe n they do? ". eve nts that ca me to be known as the Bank Panic of 1907. and will be distributed free to teachers and admi ni strators. By most measures it was not the worst bank pani c in U.S. hi story. But in retrospect, it was a watershed event that had a lasting impact on the America n fin ancia l syste m beca use it provided th e impetus fo r creation of the Federal Rese rve . Entries in the new publication list resources from agenc i es and nonprofit organizations, as we ll as samp le programs offered by th e private secto r to partnership schools. Each entry describ es basic features of the program(s) and includes co ntact in formatio n. Panic of 1907 is intended prim aril y for high school and general adu lta ud iences. Educators Resource Guide, reference booklet, published by the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, 135 pages. Panic of 7907, book let, Federal Rese rve Bank o f Bosto n, 17 pages. In recent yea rs, governm ent fu nds have bee n scarce and ma ny school systems have felt the pin ch. Yet all too ofte n a va lu ab le edu ca ti o nal resou rce may be underutilized simp ly because peo ple aren't awa re of its ex istence. Fin ancial pani cs and bank run s were all too co mmon during the 19th and earl y 20th ce nturi es. Some were more seve re than others, but even in a relatively mild panic, fortunes evaporated and lives ended in ruin . A new publicatio n fro m the Fede ral Reserve Ba nk of Boston recaps the chain of To help remedy th at situation , the Pub li c & Co mmunity Affairs Depa rtment of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston has just published the Educators Resource Guide, a li sting of public, no nprofit, and private programs ava il ab le to Massachusetts schoo ls (grades K-12). The Guide includes 180 entri es https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis For more information abo ut the Guide, contact Angelo Veneziano of the Bank 's Publi c & Commun ity Affa irs D epartment at (6 1 7) 973-3456. For free cop ies of Banking Basics, Panic of 190 7, and th e Educators Resource Guide, write to: Publications Public & Community Affairs Department T-6 Federal Reserve Bank of Boston P .O . Box 2076 Boston, MA 02106-2076 or call (617) 973-3459, International Trade: Maastricht and NAFTA uropeans began last year with hi gh hopes for ratification of the Maastricht Treaty. If approved, the 1991 treaty would go a long way toward creating econom ic and political union among the twelve member nations of the European Community (Belgium, Britain, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, and Spain). The treaty elimin ates virtually al l barriers to the free movement of goods, se rvi ces, labor, and capital between EC members, and it co ntains provisio ns for European monetary union (a co mm on currency for members of the Europea n Community), a European central bank, ad ditional powers for th e European Parliament, and a co mm on defense arrangement. E But ratifi catio n of the treaty proved to be far more problematic than its backers had originally predi cted. Trouble developed when Danish voters, fearful of rising unemployment (and possibly motivated by a dislike for EC bureaucrats and a fea r of German dominance), rej ected the agreement on June 2nd by a vote of 50.7 percent to 49.3 percent. Although Irish voters backed the agreement by a wide margin on June 16, the governments of other EC nations began to waffle. France, which had been one of the treaty's strongest advocates, scheduled a referendum after French far mers mounted a strong cam paign of res istance. Voters approved the agreement, 51 percent to 49 percent, but the narrowness of th e margin indicated widespread misgivings over the Maastricht Treaty. Th e treaty's chan ces for ratification suffered ye t another bl ow when the British withdrew th e pound from Europe's exc hange- rate mechanism (ERM), the vehicle for establi shing exchange rate parity between the currencies of EC members. To a certain extent, currency specu lators had created the pressure that drove the pound from the ERM after they recognized the dilemma facing the British government: High interest rates might be necessary in order to mai ntain the pound 's link to the ERM, but at the same time Britain 's sagging economy might require a policy leading to lower rates. https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis To comp li cate matters further, Germans expressed increasing concern ove r ceding control of the German mark to a European central bank. These developments in Germany and Britain highlighted Lhe difficulties of linking curre ncies together whe n underlying fu ndamentals don't necessa ril y support such action. And even if the currency issue were resolved, the re were still a number of other thorny problems to be faced. By the end of 1992, the fate of the Maastricht Treaty was in doubt. freer trade cou ld be nefit consumers throughout North America by making high-quality goods and services available at competitive prices. Moreover, all three governments seem to realize how much is at stake if the agreement fa ll s apart. Mexico, for example, is now the third largest export market for U.S. goods and services. (Last year, U.S. exports to Mexico exceeded 1991 levels by 20 percent.) Talking Points The other major trade story of 1992 was NAFTA, the North American Free Trade Agreement. On December 17, th e leaders of Canada, Mexico, and the United States signed an agreement to elimin ate virtually all tariffs and restrictions on trade among the three countri es. (Some trade barriers would fall as soon as the agreement was ratified, others would be phased out over the next 15 yea rs.) Although the agreement must still be ratified by all three co untries, the mere fact that it was signed represented a major accomplishment for NAFTA proponents. Powerful interests in all three countries had opposed NAFTA. Canadians, experiencing nearly 12 percent unemployment, voiced concerns that NAFTA wou Id lead tofu rther job losses and an even greater intrusion of American culture across the Canad ian border. In the United States, organized labor and envi ronmenta l organizations, two groups that have often found themselves at odds over domestic issues, greeted NAFTA with reactions that ranged from outright oppos iti on to wary skepticism . Labor feared that American compa ni es would close up shop and move south of th e border to Mexico, where unskilled laborers ea rn $5-$7 a day. Environm entali sts worried that companies wou ld ru sh to take advantage of M exico's more cas ual attitu de toward environm ental regu lations. NAFTA also became a campa ign issue during the 1992 U.S. presidential race when Ross Perot said the agreement would lead to the who lesale export of American jobs, and Bill Clinton hinted that he, too, had a number of reservations about it. But many observers are predicting that NAFTA ultimately wi ll be ratified because the governments of all three cou ntri es seem eager to make the agreement work, and because the Generally speaking, who benefits and who loses from the easing of trade restrictions? '1 Under what circumstances, if any, might a government be justified in establishing trade restrictions to "protect " a domestic industry? The Earth Summit in Rio: Green is Also the Color of Money I In June, delegates from 178 nations (114 heads of state, including George Bush), accompanied by a press corps that numbered more than 7,000, flew down to Rio for the first Earth Summit. The United Nations-sponsored meeting could not have been held in a more appropriate spot. Rio de Janeiro, the seaside Brazilian city that boasts one of the world's most breathtaking natural settings, is plagued by environmental problems. Untreated sewage washes up on the fabled beaches oflpan ema and Copacabana. Trash collection and sewage services are virtua lly nonexistent in the sprawling hillside slums (fave/a ) that ring the city. Traffi c jams and choki ng air pollution make Ri o "breathtaking" in a most und esirable way. Th e Earth Summit, which attempted to tackle such issues as climate change (globa l warming), biological diversity (preservation of plant, an imal, and microbial species), and global conservation of fo rests (sa ve the rainforest) , generated considerable controversy. Throughout most of the 12-day proceedings, the United States found itself at odds with a majority of the nations in attendance. For example, President Bush refused to sign a treaty on biological diversity, largely because of concern over The Russian Economy: Wait 'til next year woyearsago, Boris Yeltsin climbed atop a tank and helped head off a coup attempt by hard-lin e Communists against Mikhail Gorbachev. Last year, as president of the Russian Federation, he undertook a task that made sta nding up to ta nks see m easy by co mparison: Russ ia's transition from Com munism to a market eco nomy. T: The job of actually implementing new policies went to Yeltsin 's 35-year-old minister of finance (later to becom e acting prime minister), Yegor Gaidar, and a team of young reformers. From the outset, Gaidar knew his task would not be easy. Communist dictators had spent 70 years doing eve rything in thei r power to ensure that the Soviet system would never be und one. Under the Communists, farms and banks had been nationa li zed, co mm ercial law had been aboli shed, and private eco nomic activity had been considered a crim e. In effect, Yeltsin and Gaidar were attempting to introduce free market economics to a natio n whose people had no tradition of private enterprise and little fam ili arity w ith the notion of private property. What's more, the break with Co mmunist pol icies was to be immediate and co mplete. In early January, consumer prices skyrocketed after Gaidar abolished price contro ls on vi rtu ally all goods. Gaidar's econom ic team also moved aggressively to cut the government deficit by slashing defense spe nding and ending subsidies to government-owned industries. But with the demise of Russia's centrall y planned eco nomy came a sharp decline in industrial outpu t and a near-total collapse of the distribution syste m for goods and agricu ltural products. The ab rupt changes imposed a heavy burden on ordi nary Russians, and many angrily expressed their displeasure with the new policies. But Gaidar's most intractaole foes proved to be entrenched Communist functionaries - Party officia ls, bureaucrats, factory managers, and others who had a vested interest in maintaining the status quo. Tensions between reforme rs and hardliners reached the ir peak in Decembe r when fisticuffs erupted over a procedural question during t he Congress of People 's Deputies. Two weeks later, growing dissatisfaction https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis with the eco no mi c reform program forced Yegor Gaidar to step down as acting prime minister. He was replaced by a longtime Communist functionary from the government-owned energy industry. As the year drew to a close, Yeltsin clung to power, but the future pace of economi c and political reform appea red less certai n than it had six months ea rli er. In 1992, even high-profile corporate giants faltered. General Motors (as in "What's good for the country is good for General Motors, and vice versa.") announced the biggest loss in U.S. corporate history - $4.5 billion. Not long afterward, GM chairma n Robert Stempel was pressured into stepping down. And Stempel wasn't alone. Kenneth Olsen, the founder of Digital Equipment Corpo rati on, announced his retirement. Talking Points Later in the year, Olympia & York made head lin es when it filed for bankruptcy. During the 1980s, 0 & Y had been one of the biggest names in commercial real estate development. Why would some Russians oppose the transition from Communism to a market economy? ~ Why do you think the economic reformers believed they had to remove price controls all at once? Wang Laboratories, a once high-flying name in high-tech, had yet another bad year in what has been a longstringofbad years. In August, the Massachusettsbased compa ny filed for bankruptcy. The Continued Shake-out in Corporate America In December, came an unmistakable sign that co rpo rate America was in the midst of a major shakeout; IBM annou nced that it wou ld cut 25,000 jobs (out of 340,000). Most of the jobs wou ld be eliminated through attrition or by not filling vaca ncies, but IBM also hinted that it might be forced to abandon its longstanding " no layoff" policy. (The co mputer giant had failed to recognize the market's growing preference for PCs over the mainframe co mputers that had been IBM 's traditional strength.) here was a t im e when many Americans, blue-collar and whitecoll ar workers alike, shared a similar employment goal: Land a job with a "good compa ny" - one that offered decent pay, generous benefits, and long-term job secu rity-and then stay there until retirement. But that vision of the way life ought to be started to fadeduringthe 1970sand 1980swhen, one after another, America's stee l mills banked their bl ast fu rn aces and other manufacturing industries locked their gates. Lots of "good jobs" with "good compa ni es" disappeared forever. At first, white-collar workers in hightech, financial services, and other service sector industries paid little heed to the wave of job losses. Sure it was sad to see people lose their jobs, but the prevai ling se ntim ent see med to be that old, " uncompetitive" indu stries wou ld fade wh ile new industries would fl ouris h and provide jobs for the future. Th en, one by one, the high-flying industries ran into difficulties of their own. The first signs of trouble appeared in 1985 when high-tech experienced a downturn. Th en came 1986 changes in the tax laws that undercut the commercial real estate market, followed by the October 1987 stock market "correction" in which the market lost more than 500 points in a single day. Things changed drastica ll y fo r workers in the high-tech and se rvice secto rs. Companies that had been expa nding rap idl y began to shed workers. The events of last year were remarkable for two reasons. First, many of the job losses were among middle managers and white-collar workers, two groups that for the most part had escaped the ill effects of earlier recessions. The other remarkable and troubling aspect of the 1992 shakeout in corporate America was the fact that job losses and financial reversals hit such high ly visibl e corporations as General M otors and IBM, which were once thought to be synonymous w ith Amer ican eco nom ic strength. Even as the economy began to show signs of recove ry, concern over jobs continued to weigh heavily upon the minds of many. Talking Points Even some profitable companies are looking for ways to cut jobs. Why? ·i A number of companies are relying more and more on part-time and temporary workers. What are the positive and negative effects of this trend? New England Update 11 Maine Event Think globally. Act locally." S o uth Bosto n Hi gh Schoo l and th e Federal Rese rve Bank of Boston have bee n invo lved in a highly successful partnership program fo r more than 1 5 yea rs, and rece ntly th e Bank's Publi c & Co mmunity Affairs Department hosted a lun cheon meetingto help promote South Boston High's innovative Enviro nm ental Techni cian Training Program. M ore than 50 represe ntatives from Boston-area co rpo rations and public secto r orga nizati ons attended. The tra ining program, which bega n last year, iscomprised ofthree segmentsand is designed to prepare students for entrylevel positions in environmental servi ces and resources preservation. Segment one includes an environmentally-ori ented chemistry course, an English course th at emphasizes effecti ve co mmunicati on and technical writing, and a statistics course that provides the opportuni ty to und erstand and perfo rm sta ti sti ca l analysis as applied to envi ronmental problems. The second component is a laborato ry course. Stud ents spend six hours per week in the lab learning appropri ate use and maintenance of materi als and equipment, proper techniqu e, and laboratory etiquette. Regular fi eld trips offer an opportuni ty for students to see practical applications of lab skills. Th e third, and most cru cial, part of the program involves helping students gain hand s-o n ex peri ence. South Boston High Schoo l is establi shing relation ships with local compani es and agen cies that ca n lead to job shadowing, work intern ships, summ er jobs, and perm anent empl oyment upo n gradu ati o n fo r the program's stud ents. For more in fo rm ati on on the Enviro nmental Technicia n Training Program, co ntact Assistant Headmaster David White at (6 17) 268-652 1 or 268-2928. 0 C) he M aine Co un cil o n Eco no mi c Edu ca ti on rece ntly ann oun ced the ] orm ati o n of a major partnership agree ment w ith the M aine Credi t Uni on League, th e trade associati o n for the state's 105 credit uni ons. Under the part nership agree ment, th e M ain e Co un cil rece ived $7,5 00 in partial program fundin g as well as th e assistance and avai lab ility of credit union staff and fa ciliti es in th e impl ementati on of a statewid e program o n high schoo l fin ancial pl ann ing. Th e program was deve lo ped by th e Nati onal College fo r Fin ancial Pl anning and is ava il abl e in M ain e thro ugh the University of M aine Coo perative Extensio n Service in co njun cti o n with the Maine Coun cil and its network of bu siness, econo mi cs , math , and soc ial studi es teachers. Th e M ain e Coun cil, the Extension Service, and th e Main e Credit Unio n League will work with Extension Service edu cators, high school teac hers, and others interested in ass isting M ain e students to lea rn abo ut basic mo ney management and setting finan cial goals. Students w ill develop fin ancial plans and w ill di scove r how fin ancial planning can be used in making ca reer and edu cation cho ices. C .., (II t: Q) J:j 0 a: > . J:j The service is offered free of charge to M aine teachers and schools. For more in formation, contact Robert Mitchell, M aine Council on Economi c Education at (20 7) 780-592 6 or (20 7) 581 -1464. 0 0 .=. Cl. Copies of this newsletter and a catalogue of other educational materials and research publications may be obtained free of charge by writing: South Boston High School Headmaster Lorraine Hamilton is joined by Max Corbett (I) and Thomas Giachetto (r), both of the Boston School Department Vocational-Technical Education Office. The Federal Reserve Bank of Boston recently hosted a luncheon to help promote South Boston High School's innovative Environmental Technician Training Program . https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis Public and Community Affairs Federal Reserve Bank of Boston P.O . Box 2076 Boston, Massachusetts 02106-2076 or by calling (617) 9 73-3459