Bob Chase has 30 years of experience as a regional economist with particular expertise in assessing the economic and fiscal impacts of proposed projects on regions, states, and nations, identifying appropriate market opportunities for industries and businesses for communities, designing economic development approaches for regions and states, design and implementation of economic-demographic and regional forecasting models, construction and application of input-output models and economic simulation models, application of benefit-cost analysis and risk assessment of projects, and forecasting economic and fiscal change for regions and states.

Bob joined EPR in 2010 after many years of professional experience in the Pacific Northwest region with prior positions in private economic consulting, research faculty at the University of Washington, and economist in Washington state government. His accomplishments include analyzing the trade relationships between Alaska and Puget Sound (receiving a national research award from ACCRA), updating and expanding the Washington State’s input-output model, reporting on various industrial trends, devising innovative strategic economic development plans for local areas, and developing analytical tools for economic/fiscal impact assessment and industry-level analysis. Bob has conducted a number of economic studies of mega-projects (energy-related and mining) in North America and beyond, such as in Ghana (hydroelectric energy and primary metals), the Democratic Republic of Congo (copper-cobalt mine), Panama (copper mine), and Mexico (gold mine).

Bob has also been on the Agricultural & Resource Economics faculty at North Dakota State University and the University of Maryland. He holds an M.S. with substantial work toward a doctorate in Regional Economics from the University of Wisconsin., as well as a B.A. in Economic Geography from Wittenberg University (Springfield, Ohio). He is a member of the National Association for Business Economics, Agricultural & Applied Economics Association, and Western Economics Association, International. Bob is also a long-standing member of the Livingston Survey (economic forecast panel) for the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia.