According to an economic model developed at the W. P. Carey School of Business, Arizona is headed for a pleasant surprise in April. Capital gains taxes, typically paid quarterly with the largest payment in April, are rising, according to economist Dennis Hoffman, director of the L. William Seidman Research Institute. But capital gains are volatile, Hoffman pointed out, and therefore cannot be used for ongoing expenses or permanent tax cuts. If the model proves accurate, all eyes will be watching to see how the legislature reacts.

Curtis Frasier is the executive vice president and general counsel of Royal Dutch Shell’s Upstream Americas business. He is also Shell’s head of legal in the USA. In his speech at the Economic Club of Phoenix on February 2, 2012, he described Shell’s business worldwide and commented on sustainable energy issues. The Economic Club of Phoenix is a forum for the discussion of economic and business issues among academic, business, labor and public sectors in the Phoenix area.

On January 2, 2012, the W. P. Carey School of Business lost its benefactor and friend, Wm. Polk Carey. At the January Economic Club of Phoenix luncheon, Dean Robert Mittelstaedt delivered a tribute, speaking about Mr. Carey’s early interest in business, his innovations and his high ethical standards. Mittelstaedt also recalled Mr. Carey’s support of higher education, especially the school at Arizona State University that bears his name.

Jay Butler, professor emeritus of real estate at the W. P. Carey School of Business, has been a familiar voice analyzing the Phoenix metropolitan market since 1978. With his December 2011 report, he closes his ASU career. In this podcast, Dr. Butler reviews the numbers from December and wraps up the year 2011. Butler also shares some thoughts about the much-smaller city he moved to in 1972, and the challenges ahead for the Valley of the Sun.