GET TO KNOW ECONOMIST LYNN REASER

To say it has been a roller coaster of a year for the U.S. economy is an understatement. The coronavirus pandemic and subsequent lockdowns resulted in a historic recession, prompting a national stimulus package and creating an economic crisis that, for most, continues to this day. Meanwhile, the stock market plunged and then rebounded to new record highs.

Looking for the reasons behind such complexity is exactly what appeals to Lynn Reaser, chief economist for Point Loma Nazarene University’s Fermanian Business and Economic Institute, about her job.

“Every day you wake up and there’s some new development happening somewhere in the world and the challenge is to understand what that means,” Reaser said in a recent interview with the Name Drop San Diego podcast. “That’s what makes economics exciting.”

She says in college, when she found out that being an economist meant every day would be different, she knew it was the job for her. It has lead her to a career as a chief economist working at organizations like Bank of America and Wells Fargo.

Locally, she’s produced economic impact reports on issues ranging from housing to the military presence in San Diego. She joined the

Name Drop San Diego podcast to talk about her career highlights, the pandemic, housing and more. Read excerpts here or listen to the full episode in your favorite listening app.

How did you get interested in economics?

It was my first class in college, actually, at UCLA. I had never really taken economics before, but I took a class in macroeconomics and it talked about working with the economy to improve the situation for families and individuals, and I thought, “This is really cool stuff. I can actually make a difference.” I thought it would actually be great to be chairman of the president’s council of economic advisers. Now, in retrospect, I think it’s way too political. But the dream continued, and I took microeconomics, and at UCLA it was taught in a very real world context so it was all about explaining why people out on Westwood Boulevard were behaving like they did and how we respond to incentives and how we act in business and personal relationships. It was very meaningful, so I was hooked.

How do you view the pandemic’s affect on the economy?

Well, every day is different and you read about different companies and different industries adapting, but what’s been really very surprising is how well many companies have indeed shown their resilience and figured out how to survive in this environment. And also what’s surprising is that we have the largest number of new companies being formed that we’ve seen like in a decade. So this is absolutely a sign of optimism in this country that people are saying, “Hey, I’m not going to give up. In fact, this may be the opportunity to do what I’ve always wanted to do in my life and open up my own shop and own business and go forward with my own ideas and my dreams.”

Your 2015 report on the cost of housing is highly cited. What advice do you have for elected officials?

In terms of housing, we do need to build more housing in the county and the city if we want to, in fact, accommodate growth and we want to have lower housing costs or at least not explosive growth and we want to have, particularly, more middle income housing.