And surely Greenspan has never used the word "awesome."

But for the past 10 weeks they've put themselves in the shoes of the Federal Reserve chairman and other prognosticators, poring over indicators and statistics to try to figure out where the economy is headed.

The students presented their conclusions to a group of visitors Thursday afternoon.

The forecast? The production of goods and services will grow over the next three years but at a slower rate, Greenspan and the Fed will raise interest rates to fend off inflationary pressures, and unemployment rates will remain remarkably low, as will inflation.

"The productivity is awesome, the unemployment rate is awesome," said senior Thomas Dent, responding to a question about how long the good times will last. "I think we should enjoy it while we have it."

The students used a complicated mathematical model developed by Yale economics professor Ray Fair to explore different economic scenarios.

They picked out five key factors -- crude oil prices, the conflict in Kosovo, the Y2K computer problem, foreign markets and monetary policy -- that will effect the economy's performance, and came up with best-case, worst-case and most-likely scenarios.

Plugging data into the Fair model, they found that rising crude oil prices posed the greatest threat to the nation's prosperity.

"Any small price increase in imports of crude oil will have a large impact on everything," said senior Tamara Morreale.

The recovery of foreign markets was also pegged as extremely important, while the students concluded that the two highest profile issues, Kosovo and the Y2K computer problem, had short-term effects but didn't change the long-term forecast much.

While students used the model to develop specific projections, they also had to use their own judgment. For example, they found raw mathematical data could go only so far when trying to project what Greenspan and the Fed would do with interest rates. So, they looked at the inflationary factors and the Fed's historical actions and tried to make an educated guess.

"We felt they'd be more likely to raise interest rates," said junior Brian Cooper.

The mix of economics and business majors said the exercise left them with a clearer picture of how the economy works.

"I came away with a greater understanding of the indicators and how they work together," said junior Clint Turner.

Students also got a feel for just how imprecise a science economic forecasting is.