Oil spill's impact: How about $10.9 billion?

Just how much might the Deepwater Horizon spill cost Florida's economy? The latest estimate from one Central Florida economist: an eye-popping $10.9 billion.

But economic studies are notorious for one potential weak link: assumptions. And indeed, with no oil having yet reached Florida's beaches, the all-important “total damages” question is far from being answered.

So Coffee Talk spoke with Sean Snaith, director of the University of Central Florida's Institute for Economic Competitiveness, to understand just how realistic his group's estimate might be.