Michael R. Pakko is a Research Officer and Economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Saint Louis. He joined the Bank staff in 1993 and has worked in the fields of international economics, macroeconomics and regional economic analysis. Dr. Pakko received his bachelor’s degree in socioeconomic policy problems and economics from Michigan State University in 1984 and his Ph.D. in economics from the University of Rochester in 1994. Dr. Pakko has previously held positions as adjunct assistant professor of economics at Saint Louis University, as research assistant at the University of Rochester’s Department of Economics, as an economic analyst at the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, and as a research intern at the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond. In 2007, Dr. Pakko joined the Saint Louis Fed’s CRE8™, the Center for Regional Economics. The role of CRE8™ is to provide and facilitate rigorous economic analysis of policy issues affecting local, state, and regional economies.