SNAIL MAIL:
Leonard Lardaro
Department of Economics
University of Rhode Island
Kingston, RI 02881-0808

PHONE:
(401) 874-4128

E-MAIL:
llardaro@uri.edu

Leonard Lardaro, who is presently a Professor of Economics at the University of Rhode Island, has been a faculty member there since June, 1981. Professor Lardaro has taught courses in Econometrics at both the undergraduate and graduate levels, Introductory Economics (both micro and macro), Intermediate Economic Theory (micro and macro), Labor Economics, Public Finance, Money and Banking, and Managerial Economics (MBA). The emphasis in his courses is the blending of theory with empiricism, and always, the application of economics to current events.

His research has centered on the econometric analysis of labor markets, ranging from the labor supply effects of Unemployment Insurance to state-level analysis of job vacancy rates and labor market flows. In 1992, he authored an undergraduate econometrics text, Applied Econometrics, with HarperCollins.

Professor Lardaro has been analyzing and forecasting the Rhode Island economy since 1991, focusing on its labor and housing markets, demographic factors, and the income created by Rhode Island's economy. Those forecasts were presented at a series of regional conferences and as testimony before a number of Rhode Island Revenue Estimation and Caseload conferences.

In 1995, he formulated and began to publish the Current Conditions Index (CCI) for Rhode Island, a monthly indicator of the present state of the economy. In 1999, he created and published the Jobless Improvement Index, a measure that gauges each state's unemployment rate "momentum."

Professor Lardaro has had a number of his articles published in the Providence Business News and in the editorial and business pages of The Providence Journal since the early 1990s. He was a member of the Family Independence Coalition that proposed welfare reform legislation and served on the Advisory Committee for "Critical Needs/Collaborative Solutions - Implementation of the 'Needs for the Nineties' " with the United Way and the Human Resource Investment Council from 1994 to 1996. He was also a part of the Property Assessment Committee for Girl Scouts of Rhode Island. At that time, Professor Lardaro was a member of the Community Service Board of Directors for the United Way of Southeastern New England. In April of 1997 he was appointed by Governor Almond to serve on the Labor Market Information Committee for the Human Resource Investment Council. And, in May of 2008, Professor Lardaro was selected by Governor Carcieri to serve on the Rhode Island Tax Policy Strategy Workgroup.