Business Digest: Nobel economist to talk at UTC

photo Thomas J. Sargent

Nobel laureate Thomas J. Sargent will speak in the Burkett Miller Distinguished Lecture Series Monday, Oct. 6, at noon in the UTC University Center Auditorium.

Sargent will discuss "Lessons from the Fiscal History of the United States."

Sponsored by the Scott L. Probasco Jr. Chair of Free Enterprise, the event is free and open to the public. Seating is limited and on a first-come, first-served basis.

In 2011, Sargent was awarded the Nobel Prize in economics for his "empirical research on cause and effect in the macroeconomy." Dr. Edward J. López, an economist at Western Carolina University, will critique the speech.

Sitel hires 125 in Oak Ridge

Sitel, a leading global customer care provider, announced Monday it will hire more than 125 more employees at the company's Oak Ridge facility. The new hires will provide inbound customer service support for a leading loan acquisition and servicing provider.

"Thanks to the hard work and dedication the Sitel Oak Ridge staff has provided our clients, we're able to bring more job opportunities to the Oak Ridge community," said Oak Ridge Site Director Cassidy Klundt.

The company will fill positions at both the entry and upper management levels.

Inflation hawk to leave Fed

Charles Plosser, a leading inflation "hawk" at the Federal Reserve, announced Monday that he plans to retire March 1.

Plosser, who has been president of the Fed's Philadelphia regional bank since August 2006, has been a leader of the officials known as hawks for their concerns that a continuation of low-interest rate policies could ignite inflation. He has dissented at the past two Fed meetings, when the central bank voted to maintain its plan to keep a key short-term rate at a record low for a "considerable time."

Plosser, 66, would have given up his vote on the Fed's policy-making committee next year as part of the normal rotation of votes among the regional bank presidents. And the rules governing the Fed's 12 regional banks would have required his retirement in 2016.

The regional bank presidents face mandatory retirement at age 65 or 10 years after first being appointed if they were appointed after 55, as Plosser was.

Another leading hawk, Richard Fisher, president of the Dallas regional Fed bank, also is expected to step down early next year. Fisher faces a mandatory retirement by April 30 but has yet to announce his plans.

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