Wharton Professors Forecast 2024: What's Ahead for the Economy, Real Estate, AI & Workplace?

In December, four 美国宾夕法尼亚大学 - 沃顿商学院 professors joined Wharton Business Daily to share their predictions for the new year across four key sectors.

Watch the interviews below for their 2024 forecasts for the U.S. economy (Jeremy Siegel), real estate ( Susan Wachter ), AI ( Christian Terwiesch ) and the workplace ( Matthew Bidwell ).

Wharton Business Daily airs Monday-Friday from 10 AM - 12 PM ET on SiriusXM Channel 132, featuring emerging trends, top business leaders, and Wharton’s renowned professors. Learn more at whr.tn/businessdaily.

2024 Forecast: The U.S. Economy with Prof. Jeremy Siegel

The U.S. economy heads into 2024 with expectations that the Federal Reserve will lower interest rates as inflation appears tamed.

“The Fed has to realize that all its tightness is in the pipeline and will continue to press on the economy in 2024," says Siegel. "They must start thinking about lowering rates."

2023 saw the economy more resilient than many experts had predicted — productivity surged, and so did the stock market. “[But] we do have a slowing economy now, so we do have to watch out for 2024,” Siegel warns.

2024 Forecast: Real Estate with Prof. Susan Wachter

As inflation continues to be reined in, prospects run high for an easing of interest rates in 2024. That could bring a much-needed boost for both the residential and commercial real estate markets — particularly, beleaguered office markets. But the recovery process will take time, according to Wachter.

“While 2023 has been extremely painful, 2024 will see some easing of the pain, and abatement," she says. "By the end of 2024, I see considerable relief ahead. Stay alive to ’25.”

2024 Forecast: AI with Prof. Christian Terwiesch

Artificial intelligence exploded onto the scene in 2023 with the rise of ChatGPT and other generative AI tools. “It’s probably in our lifetime the biggest game-changer that we’ve seen,” Terwiesch says. “We need that technology. We need that productivity boost. And we shouldn’t feel scared of it by putting it into this kind of ‘it’s going to steal our jobs’ category.”

Looking ahead, Terwiesch is anticipating an evolution in how AI is implemented as it shifts from being a novelty to being utilized through a more systematic approach – particularly in education: "We can customize the education to an extent that we could not do before. And I very much hope that this overcomes a lot of the quality discrepancies around schooling."

2024 Forecast: The Workplace with Prof. Matthew Bidwell

Between the cooling of the labor market, advancements in AI, and the popularization of remote work, the workplace remains very much in flux as the new year begins.

Companies and employees continue to grapple with the best strategies for implementing AI and to structuring the remote vs. in-office experience; in both cases, Bidwell sees different approaches depending on the nature of the work.

"If people with AI is a good solution, ultimately you probably need fewer people," he says. "Across different occupations, it's going to be different."

When it comes to hybrid work, Bidwell sees the need for continued cost-benefit analysis, but expects the days of requiring a full return to the office are gone. "To most people, it just seems silly now that you have to be there every day and keep incurring those costs with seriously declining marginal benefits."

Wharton Business Daily airs Monday-Friday from 10 AM - 12 PM ET on SiriusXM Channel 132, featuring emerging trends, top business leaders, and Wharton’s renowned professors. Learn more at whr.tn/businessdaily.