Livingston Survey
The Livingston Survey was started in 1946 by the late columnist Joseph Livingston. It is the oldest continuous survey of economists' expectations. It summarizes the forecasts of economists from industry, government, banking, and academia. The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia took responsibility for the survey in 1990.
The Livingston Survey's web page offers the actual releases, documentation, mean and median forecasts of all the respondents as well as the individual responses from each economist. The individual responses are kept confidential by using identification numbers.
For additional information about the survey, send e-mail to: phil.liv@phil.frb.org.
Recent Releases
2007
- December 2007 (PDF, 138 KB, 10 pages)
- June 2007 (PDF, 80 KB, 10 pages)
The next release date is June 10, 2008, at 10:00 a.m. The complete list of release dates for 2008 is also available.
Also available:
Historical Data
- Data Files: Separate files containing the mean and median forecasts, as well as the individual forecasts.
- Errata: Shows corrections to the historical data.
Resources
- Documentation: Provides information on all variables, transformations, and files in the survey. (PDF, 113 KB, 14 pages; last update: December 2005)
- Data Sources and Descriptions: Shows the specifications of the economic variables being forecast.
- Academic Bibliography: Contains a comprehensive list of academic articles that discuss or use the Livingston Survey.
- Business Review article: "The Livingston Survey: Still Useful After All These Years" (PDF)
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