Number-Crunchers

To help budget planners deal with the state's current fiscal problems, Massachusetts will probably increase its use of an economic analysis concern chaired by Otto Eckstein, Warburg Professor of Economics, a company executive said Tuesday.

Although Data Resources, Inc. has prepared studies for the state in the past, the company's most recent state contract called for explanatory testimony before the Senate for the first time, Allen Sinai, the firm's senior vice president, said Tuesday.

"The new Dukakis administration seems more interested in our work than the King administration had been," he added. In addition to Massachusetts, Data Resources analyses economic data for 34 other states, as well as for industries across the nation, Sinai said.

Testifying Monday before the Ways and Means Committee, Eckstein predicted that the state's recovery from the recession will trail the nation's by six to 10 months. His testimony was based on a forecast by a new Data Resources model, which he developed.

The state's slower recovery schedule is attributed to its dependence on high technology sales to other national industries, which must recover substantially before investing heavily in new equipment, Eckstein said.