November 16, 2022 Meeting:

Topic:  Taxes and Economic Development in Columbia, SC

Dr. Gunnlaugsson is an economist specializing in statistical analysis and econometric modeling of public finance and taxation policy issues. She began her career with Accenture where she was involved in firm-wide business and technology implementations. She went on to serve as Director of Research and subsequently Chief Economist at the South Carolina Department of Commerce, followed by her role as President of Acuitas Economics. In May, she returned to the Department of Commerce to serve as Chief Information and Data Analytics Officer.

She has done extensive research on public finance, taxation and optimization for long term economic growth, having testified before the 2009 Senate Finance Committee on Unemployment Insurance, the 2010 South Carolina Tax Realignment Commission (TRAC), the 2017 South Carolina House Tax Policy Review Committee, the 2018 Senate Subcommittee for Tax Review and Reform and the 2020 Senate Education Funding Reform Study Committee. Most recently, she has worked with the City of Columbia’s Tax Modernization Committee.

Dr. Gunnlaugsson received her Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees in Mechanical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and her Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Michigan.

September 15, 2022 Meeting:

Topic: The Fed’s Mission Creep

Dr. Thomas Hogan is a senior research faculty at AIER.  He was formerly the chief economist for the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs. He has also worked at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy, Troy University, West Texas A&M University, the Cato Institute, the World Bank, Merrill Lynch’s commodity trading group and for investment firms in the U.S. and Europe.

Dr. Hogan’s research has been published in academic journals such as the Journal of Macroeconomics and the Journal of Money, Credit and Banking. He has appeared on programs such as BBC World News, Stossel TV, and Bloomberg Radio and has been quoted by news outlets including CNN Business, American Banker, and the National Review. Dr. Hogan earned his Ph.D. in economics from George Mason University and holds Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in business administration from the University of Texas at Austin.