What's ahead for the economy?

TECHNOLOGY
Neil Moses
Chief financial officer, Parametric Technology Corp.

"We are not seeing any decrease in customer spending as a result of an economic slowdown. However, if there is not an improvement in the real estate and debt markets over the next several months, this could have a negative impact on the economy."

HEALTHCARE
Ellen Zane
Chief executive, Tufts-New England Medical Center.

"If more people lose their jobs, the number of people who sign on to the new insurance plans will lag. People will find it harder to pay larger deductibles and copayments, which is a big part of the reform plan."

HEALTHCARE
Charles Baker
Chief executive, Harvard Pilgrim Health Care

"The economy is very interest-ratesensitive, and that makes me nervous. I worry about how long we can generate a significant federal deficit without it having an impact on interest rates."

BANKING
Robert Smyth
President, Citizens Bank, Massachusetts

"I've been speaking with quite a few people, reading what the forecasters say, and I don’t foresee [a recession]. What we continue to have is healthy consumer income growth, pretty low interest rates."

Dr. James J. Mongan
Chief executive Partners HealthCare System

'Admissions and volume go up [in a recession]. People laid off take advantage of their benefits and have procedures they didn't get done while they were employed. But the budget gets squeezed.’

Mark Horan
Executive director
Massachusetts Network Communications Council

"People in the communications industry seem fairly bullish. I don’t think they're yet anticipating any kind of slump."

Dave Rickard
Chief financial officer
CVS Caremark Corp.

"We continue to have foot traffic that is growing at levels that historically are quite good. When the economy was last in recession, we did see the effect of people economizing on prescriptions — pill-splitting. It was not enough to very, very significantly affect sales trends, but enough to take off a half a percent to a percent from growth."

Thomas F. Ackerman
Chief financial officer
Charles River Laboratories International

"The housing slump, credit woes, and slower retail sales seem to be creating the perfect storm for slower economic activity. Fortunately, the life sciences industry seems to be riding out the storm."

David Gross
Commissioner
Major League Lacrosse

"If anything, if people were to cut back on a big ticket item but still want their entertainment value, it could benefit us. The biggest thing would be not to panic."

Guy Moss
Bankruptcy lawyer
Riemer & Braunstein

'Bankruptcy in general thrives on economic misfortune. So to the extent that anything untoward is visited on the economic sector, it's likely to produce more bankruptcy activity.'

Jim Green
Chief executive
Analogic Corp.

"We deliver to the healthcare industry. The economy doesn’t tend to have a big effect on people getting sick. You still have people living longer, growing older."

Compiled by Carolyn Johnson, Jenn Abelson, Hiawatha Bray, Todd Wallack, Keith Reed, Ross Kerber, Sacha Pfeiffer, and Jeffrey Krasner of the Globe staff.