2025 Economic Outlook for Los Angeles

Focus: Los Angeles City Budget - Deficits and Opportunities

In the midst of a turbulent period in national economic policy, the City of Los Angeles announced its own $1B shortfall in the upcoming fiscal year. A significant part of the City’s dire estimates is due to decreased tax revenues resulting from decreased economic activity in the area. Other components of the crisis are government overspending, including a tripling of liability payouts and increased labor contracts.

Plans to close the deficit include significant cuts to valued public services, and some are proposing raising revenues through new fee and tax measures. In light of many of these challenges, Los Angeles was recently tabbed as the metro area leading the nation in residents leaving the city.

Partnering with the respected Los Angeles-based economic research firm, Beacon Economics, the Pepperdine School of Public Policy invites you to an important and informative breakfast meeting in Downtown Los Angeles, as we discuss the 2025 Los Angeles Economic Outlook. 

Leading with an overview of timely datapoints by Beacon Economics’ CEO, Dr. Chris Thornberg, we will then delve into the state of City finances on a panel moderated by policy school dean, Pete Peterson.

All attendees will receive helpful fact sheets with the major points of the presentation outlined. Join us for this wide-ranging discussion that seeks to highlight solutions to the City’s current policy challenges.

Presenting Partners

Speakers

Chris Thornberg, Founding Partner, Beacon Economics

Dr. Christopher Thornberg has been called many things throughout his career, but his favorite thing to be called is correct. Notably, he predicted the collapse of the sub-prime real estate
bubble in 2006 and the Great Recession that followed. During the Covid-19 pandemic he was one of the few economists on record to correctly push back against the forecasting community’s panicked predictions of a depression. In the past two years, he has again stood against the grain, and stood out, for accurately forecasting that there would be no recession.
 
Dr. Thornberg left a teaching position at UCLA’s Business School in 2006 to found Beacon Economics, and under his leadership, the firm has become one of the nation’s most respected
economic research organizations. He consults globally for private industry, cities, counties, and public agencies. A dynamic public speaker, he challenges audiences to question popular narratives – and to ask the right economic questions.

Niree Kodaverdian, Research Manager, Beacon Economics

Niree Kodaverdian, Ph.D. is a Research Manager at Beacon Economics, where she leads data research and analysis across the firm’s key practice areas. With over a decade of experience working with law firms, she also co-leads the firm’s legal consulting practice. Dr. Kodaverdian is the author of the firm’s widely distributed Beacon Outlook California, a trusted resource used by businesses, policymakers, and the media seeking insights on the state’s economy. 

She is highly adept at working with complex datasets to uncover underlying economic trends and relationships, and has successfully managed large-scale research projects spanning topics as diverse as clean energy storage, minimum wage and rent control policies, and the economic impacts of public and private sector investments. She has testified at city council meetings, county board hearings, and other public forums on behalf of clients, and is trusted by both public and private sector partners to deliver clear, compelling insights that resonate with diverse audiences. Prior to joining Beacon Economics, Dr. Kodaverdian taught undergraduate and MBA- level university courses in microeconomics, macroeconomics, behavioral economics, environmental economics, and managerial economics. She has built a reputation for making challenging economic concepts and models understandable and engaging for a wide range of learners. 

Pete Peterson, Dean, School of Public Policy

Pete Peterson is a leading national speaker and writer on issues related to civic participation, and the use of technology to make government more responsive and transparent. He was the first executive director of the bi-partisan organization, Common Sense California, which in 2010 joined with the Davenport Institute at the School of Public Policy to become the Davenport Institute for Public Engagement and Civic Leadership.

Peterson has co-created and currently co-facilitates the training seminar, "Public Engagement: The Vital Leadership Skill in Difficult Times" a program that has been attended by over 4,500 municipal officials, and he also helped to develop the program, "Leading Smart Communities," which explores the ways in which technology is changing local government processes. Peterson has served as the chair of the Governance Committee for the Public Interest Technology-University Network.

Peterson writes widely on public engagement for a variety of major news outlets including the Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, and San Francisco Chronicle, as well as numerous blogs. He contributed the chapter, "Place As Pragmatic Policy" to the edited volume, Why Place Matters: Geography, Identity, and Civic Life in Modern America (New Atlantis Books, 2014), and the chapter "Do-It Ourselves Citizenship" in the volume, Localism in the Mass Age (Wipf & Stock, 2018).

Peterson serves on the boards of the Jack Miller Center and the Los Angeles World Affairs Council, as well as the National Advisory Council for the Ashbrook Center, and on the Scholars Council for Braver Angels. He represents the School of Public Policy in the Public Interest Technology-University Network (PIT-UN).  Peterson has served as a member of the Commission on the Practice of Democratic Citizenship, organized by the American Academy of Arts & Sciences and the nonprofit, Sophos Africa. Peterson has served on the Leadership Council of the bipartisan reform organization, California Forward, and has been a public affairs fellow at The Hoover Institution.

Peterson was the Republican candidate for California Secretary of State in 2014.

Panelists

Rick Cole, Pasadena Council Member, District 2 and former Los Angeles Chief Deputy Controller

Rick Cole is a Pasadena City Councilmember for District 2 and the former chief deputy controller for the City of Los Angeles where he oversaw payroll, accounting, and auditing.  He has been involved in homelessness policy since he organized California's first ever "homeless count" in 1993, during his term as mayor of Pasadena. Cole has spent three decades in public service as a deputy mayor in the City of Los Angeles and as city manager in Azusa, Ventura, and Santa Monica. He was recently elected to return to the seat on the Pasadena City Council that he held for 12 years. Cole has taught  homelessness policy at Pepperdine University's School of Public Policy, urban policy at Occidental College, religion and politics at Fuller Theological Seminary, and United States history at Pasadena City College.

Kevin Harbour, President, BizFed Institute

Kevin Harbour is a trusted and proven leader with over 30 years of experience in IT, telecom, and emerging technologies. He has held senior leadership roles at Fortune 100, 500, and 1000 corporations, including DEC (HP) and Verizon, as well as serving as a principal at an IT consulting firm. As President of BizFed Institute, Kevin is dedicated to driving economic growth and public policy initiatives that strengthen the region’s business landscape. Elected the inaugural CA Jobs First Steering Committee Chair for the LA Region, Kevin helped shape and drive key funding decisions, policy recommendations, and program implementations that directly impact businesses, workers, and communities in the Los Angeles area. 

Nella McOsker, President & CEO of Central City Association

Nella McOsker is the President & CEO of Central City Association (CCA), a premier advocacy organization dedicated to enhancing Downtown Los Angeles’ vibrancy and increasing opportunity in the region. In this role, McOsker represents the interests of 300 businesses, trade associations and nonprofit organizations in LA County.

Under her leadership, CCA has successfully advocated for increased housing in the DTLA 2040 Community Plan, partnered with Metro on a variety of initiatives including public safety station improvements, produced a report advocating for Governance Reform, published the RISE Roadmap for DTLA Economic Recovery and convened stakeholders around Olympics preparation. Building on CCA’s legacy of adaptive reuse, Nella is leading the organization in ushering in the next iteration of conversions in Los Angeles.

Prior to becoming CEO, McOsker served as CCA’s Vice President of Strategic Relations, managing operations, membership, revenue and development. She has an extensive background in Los Angeles public affairs executing major initiatives like statewide ballot propositions, corporate communications campaigns, crisis management and strategic planning.

McOsker is a member of the Board of Directors for FilmLA, serves on the Advisory Board for the Urban Land Institute (ULI) Los Angeles chapter, and was a founding private sector participant of Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass’ Harvard Bloomberg City Leadership Initiative. She graduated from University of Notre Dame and is an alumna of the Coro Fellowship in Public Affairs and Teach For America. 

Sponsorships Levels