Elizabeth Bierbower has a front row seat to the fundamental changes occurring in American health care.

Student loan debt is high and growing, but is this a crisis? At a recent Economic Club of Phoenix luncheon, W. P. Carey Dean Amy Hillman and economist Lee McPheters examined the cost and the return of higher education, both for individuals and society.

Doug Davis is corporate vice president and general manager of Arizona Fab/Sort Manufacturing within Intel Corporation’s Technology and Manufacturing Group.

This year, retailers in Arizona saw a 6.7 percent increase in holiday sales year over year – topping the 3-4 percent reported for retailers nationally. That translated to $9.8 billion in sales, said W. P. Carey economist Dennis Hoffman at the Economic Club of Phoenix luncheon this week.

Charles Redfield, the executive vice president of merchandising for Sam's Club, outlined the major lessons he’s learned in business at the February Economic Club of Phoenix Luncheon.

Three and a half years after the end of the recession, Arizona lags behind the nation in the proportion of lost jobs regained. This is not because of slow growth in Arizona, but is due to the fact that the state was harder hit in the downturn and industries have more jobs to replace.

At the Economic Club of Phoenix Luncheon on Jan. 23, 2013, Arizona Diamondbacks President and CEO Derrick Hall talked about how the major league baseball organization is delivering in five key areas: fan experience, performance, community, culture, and financial efficiency.

The bottom line message of the 2013 economic outlook forecast was strikingly similar from both Anthony Chan, chief economist for private wealth management at JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Beth Ann Bovino, deputy chief economist for Standard & Poor’s.

How confident are you that you understand background facts on economic issues? Every year at our Economic Outlook Luncheon, we challenge our guests to test their economic acumen, specifically as it applies to the state of Arizona.

Professor Dennis Hoffman, director of the L. William Seidman Research Institute at the W. P. Carey School, gave an analysis of the state’s budget situation. He says taxes on individuals are relatively low in Arizona, and the public pensions are generally solvent.