Long Beach port sponsors research paper on imports

Long Beach port sponsors research paper on imports The Port of Long Beach has awarded a $120,000 grant to economic researchers at Cal State University Long Beach to study the impact of imports entering the country through the port.
   Research funded by the grant will examine where imports such as steel and paper go once they pass through the port and what kind of jobs or other economic benefits they create. Results will be presented in a study entitled “The CSULB Forward Linkages Project,” which is expected to be published sometime in 2008.
   Economics Department professors Lisa Grobar, Joe Maggadino and Kristen Monaco will head the research team, which is slated to include up to a dozen CSULB economics majors.
   The grant provides for student stipends totaling $30,000. The students will use economic models to calculate job creation associated with the tracked imports.
   “Students will use economic models at each step to calculate associated employment and payroll impacts,” Grobar said.
   Economics Department head Maggadino has studied the port and its associated economic effects for many years, and his annual economic study of the city's health is a highly attended event by local business and community leaders.