Since 1976, Blue Chip Economic Indicators has surveyed America's top business economists, collecting their forecasts of U.S. economic growth, inflation, interest rates and a host of other critical indicators of future business activity. We then published the panel members' predictions along with an average, or consensus, of their forecasts for each variable. We've done this because studies have repeatedly shown that combining the predictions of many forecasters yields more accurate results over time than reliance on any single forecaster.

This comprehensive Excel file contains all the consensus forecasts of U.S annual economic activity published monthly in Blue Chip Economic Indicators since 1976. Separate tables for each calendar year contain 24 sets of consensus forecasts, plus the Top 10 Average and Bottom 10 Average forecasts of the annual change in variables for the current year and next.

The files are an invaluable tool for researchers that wish to test the ability of forecasters to accurately predict future trends in economic growth, inflation, industrial production, personal consumption, housing starts, interest rates and other indicators of economic activity.