Derek Poole

University Honors with Honors in Business Administration

Major: Business Administration

Supervisor: Joseph Farinella, Economics and Finance

Recession 2008 and its Implications for Local Economic Activity in the Wilmington, NC Area: A Consumer Confidence Study

The goal of this study is to present information and empirical evidence to compare the economic outlook of the local economy to that of the national economy. The paper is divided into two main sections with subsections in each. The first section will include an introduction to and general review of the sub-prime crisis and the subsequent recession started December 2007. The second section will be this study’s contribution to the ongoing research in this sector. It will be based upon a survey conducted within the population of New Hanover County to assess the current level of local consumer confidence. The survey will be modeled after University of Michigan’s Survey of Consumers. These results will be presented along with other local economic indicators to make inferences as to the general health and future outlook of the local economy in relation to the national economy. It is not the goal of this study to make a specific forecast as it pertains to local economic figures, but rather to establish whether general consumer sentiment of the area is markedly different than that of the nation as a whole. This information will then allow for a general estimation of future local economic activity and recovery in comparison to the national economy.