Professor. (Ph.D., Indiana University, 1979.) Professor Lardaro graduated from URI with
a B.A. in Economics in 1973. Prior to teaching at URI, he was a faculty member at Florida
International University. 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.
Professor Lardaro is the author of Applied Econometrics,
an undergraduate econometrics text published by HarperCollins in 1992. He has written
articles detailing the labor supply effects of unemployment insurance and has empirically
analyzed various aspects of union certification elections (one of those articles was
selected for inclusion into WESTLAW). His article on the forecasting of
long-term interest rates was published in Business Economics, the journal of
the National Association of Business Economists. His funded research has dealt with
evaluating the econometric model used by the Rhode Island Budget Office, and he was one of
four principle investigators for a Workforce 2000 grant, where he statistically evaluated
the determinants of occupational vacancy rates in Rhode Island and he developed an
econometric model of the Rhode Island working-age population.
Since 1992, Professor Lardaro has been the Rhode Island Forecast Manager for the New
England Economic Project (NEEP). His five-year forecasts of the Rhode Island Economy are
presented to business executives and economists from the government and academia at the
NEEP conferences given twice yearly. Two years ago, he formulated and began to publish the
Current Conditions Index (CCI) for Rhode Island, a broadly-based monthly indicator of the
present state of the Rhode Island economy. He has published a number of articles in the
Editorial and Business Viewpoint pages of The Providence Journal and he is a
regular contributor to the Providence Business News. In February, 1997 he
constructed a web site that contains data
and analysis of the Rhode Island economy.
In 1983, Professor Lardaro was appointed to the Ad Hoc Committee to Governor Garrahy for implementing the New Workers' Compensation Law. From 1983-1987 he was a member of the Joint URI-Rhode Island Budget Office Econometrics Project where he produced a number of technical reports that detailed methods for modeling of the Rhode Island Economy. In 1995, he testified about the economic impact of the proposed Providence Place Mall on this state's economy to the Rhode Island House Finance Committee. At the present time, his forecasts of the Rhode Island Economy are presented to the Rhode Island Revenue Estimating Conference.
Professor Lardaro was a member of the Family Independence Coalition that proposed welfare reform legislation last year 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. At the present time, he is a member of the Community Service Board of Directors for the United Way of Southeastern New England and part of the Property Assessment Committee for Girl Scouts of Rhode Island.
Professor Lardaro's classes are:
