Geoffrey
J.D. Hewings, Ph.D.
Geoffrey Hewings is Director of the Regional Economics Applications
Laboratory (REAL) at the University of Illinois at
Urbana-Champaign and a Professor in the departments of
geography, economics and urban and regional
planning. He has authored or co-authored 10
books and over 100 articles and book chapters.
REAL prepares the Chicago Business Activity Index, a
monthly forecasting index for the metropolitan
economy, as well as a monthly assessment of the
region’s employment data. Over the past decade,
REAL has conducted a number of impact studies on the
Chicago, Illinois, and Midwestern economies – for
example, the Monet Exhibition, the Democratic National
Convention, high speed rail, international tourism and
the role of exports on occupational demands.
Hewings held appointments at the University of Kent
(England) and the University of Toronto (Canada) prior to
joining the University of Illinois in 1974. He has
been a visiting professor at the University of Queensland
(Australia), Bar Ilan University (Israel), University of
Indonesia, Nankai University (China), Kagawa University
(Japan) and the Universidad Catolica del Norte
(Chile).
In addition to the continuing development of regional
econometric-input-output models for a number of U.S. states
(including Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, Ohio and Michigan)
and metropolitan areas (Chicago and St. Louis), Hewings
works on regional modeling projects in Brazil, Colombia,
Korea, Japan, and Indonesia. Recent work in the
Midwest has focused on the estimation of interstate trade
flows as a prelude to the construction of a Midwest impact
and forecasting model linked with a transportation network
model. His theoretical work is directed to issues of
economic structure and structural change analyzed through
input-output, social accounting and general equilibrium
models.