My Year 2000 page is moving to:

http://cobweb.sfasu.edu/~rg/rgy2k.htm

Programmers got in the habit of using only two digits to represent the year in dates. The computer system then automatically assumed the first two digits of the date to be 19. That's fine until we get to years beyond 1999. Enter 01 in older programs and it may assume you mean 1901 instead of 2001. This could play havoc with all sorts of computations.

Here's a summary of the Year 2000 problem and some of its implications.

and an outline for evaluating the Year 2000 problem.

I wrote a column for the Daily Sentinel Will All the Computers Crash in the Year 2000?

Few economists seem to be paying attention to the economic effects of the Year 2000 problem. Here I summarize those forecasts based on Y2K that I know of, including my own. A paper I gave in February, 1999, " The Economy and the Year 2000 Problem: An Evaluation " gives some background as to how I am approaching my estimates.

I am available to give talks and workshops on some aspects of the Year 2000 problem, oriented to small businesses and individuals.

A key element in determining how this problem will affect us is how well the banking system deals with it. My current discussion of this can be found at my Bankpage. While this discussion is preliminary in some respects, I hope you will find it useful.

Here are some web pages about the Y2K problem:

General information pages:

The Year 2000 Information Center is one of the earliest and most comprehensive sites.

CPSR Y2K Working Group page The Working Group maintains the web site as the place to go for individuals and smaller organizations seeking understanding and help with Y2k. The site includes a simple explanation of the the Y2k problem and practical suggestions on how to respond to it.

http://www.garynorth.com/ Dr. Gary North is very pessimistic about the outcome of the Y2K problem. Even if you don't agree with his conclusions, his site is valuable for the many links it provides to other sites.

Dave Estabrook's denial page has a lot of material on how serious the problem really is.

Dr. Ed Yardeni, a Wall Street economist, on his Cybereconomics site provides extensive commentary in his "Y2K Reporter" as well as other material and numerous links.

Information on preparing:

The Casssandra Project A non-profit group whose purposes include: "To raise public awareness and alert Public Sector organizations of potential Y2K related: health and safety risks, interruption of basic and essential services; Promote community preparation activities; Promote contingency planning for all health, safety, and basic and essential services related systems"

The East Texas Y2k page tracks efforts in this area to prepare and to work together to raise awareness.

Back to Dr. Griffith's home page

v1.27 3/1999