Frequently Asked Questions

Commonly asked questions about our economic solutions.

Answers

What do you do?

Moody’s Analytics helps capital markets and credit risk management professionals worldwide respond to an evolving marketplace with confidence. With its team of economists, the company offers unique tools and best practices for measuring and managing risk through expertise and experience in credit analysis, economic research, and financial risk management. By offering leading-edge software and advisory services, as well as the proprietary credit research produced by Moody’s Investors Service, Moody’s Analytics integrates and customizes its offerings to address specific business challenges.Moody’s Analytics is a subsidiary of Moody’s Corporation (NYSE: MCO). Further information is available at www.moodysanalytics.com

Moody’s Analytics added the economic forecasting firm Economy.com to its portfolio in 2005. This unit is based in West Chester PA, a suburb of Philadelphia, with offices in London, Prague and Sydney. The economics team provides trusted insights, analysis and forecasting of global national and subnational economies. 

What are the qualifications of your economists?

Our senior staff, senior economists and service directors is made up of M.A. and Ph.D. economists. Approximately 40% of our research staff holds a Ph.D. as their highest degree; another 10% holds an M.A. degree and the remainder have B.A. degrees. Our service directors (senior staff members who are responsible for various product lines) have an average tenure of six years and are highly experienced in economic consulting and forecasting. Our Chief Economist has more than fifteen years' experience in economic consulting.

Many of our staff members come to us directly from such schools as the University of Pennsylvania, Swarthmore, the University of Delaware, the University of Michigan, the University of Wisconsin, Penn State, Princeton University, the University of Toronto, Emory University, and Duke University. Other staff members come to us from major corporations, such as commercial banks, other consulting firms, the Federal Reserve System, and the federal government.

What kind of economic products do you have?

This website provides economic information and economic solutions offered by Moody's Analytics. Economic solutions include data, forecasts, models, research and advisory services. For a full list of all solutions provided by Moody's Analytics, visit www.moodysanalytics.com.

Do you customize your economic data and research products?

We customize most of our products to meet our clients' needs. We do this in two broad ways. First, we can customize our subscription forecast reports and databases on states, metro area, industries, and consumer sectors to add or drop coverage, depending on the clients' needs. For example, Précis Metro covers all U.S. metropolitan areas; clients can subscribe to the number of areas that meets their needs at a commensurate cost. A client can choose (for example) to subscribe to 30 metro areas, 10 states, and 25 industries. We also offer subsets of our forecast databases covering global macro/metro U.S. macro, countries/jurisdictions, states, metropolitan areas, counties, and detailed employment.

Second, we can produce reports on geographic areas (states, metropolitan areas, selected counties) and industries that are completely tailored to the client's needs. Clients tell us what their general interests are (credit quality, loan volume, housing activity, retail sales, etc.), what geographic areas or industries they are interested in, and the type of forecast detail they need. We then produce the reports in a format chosen by the client.

How detailed is your economic data?

Our economic data series range from those with very broad detail, such as Gross National Product and Personal Income, to those with very fine detail, such as U.S. Census data. For regional economic and demographic data, a useful rule is that the greater the geographic concept (zip code to metro area to state, for example), the greater the level of detail available. We do not maintain data on individual securities or companies. Contact us for more information on our data offerings.

Can I get a few economic data series, or do I have to subscribe to an entire database?

Most of our historical economic data series can be purchased on a per series basis and are available for immediate purchase and downloading at our online store. Other series, including all of our forecast data series, can be purchased by contacting us.

How often do you update your economic forecasts?

Our forecasts and alternative scenarios are updated monthly.

What kind of consulting work do you do?

We do many different types of consulting work. Many of our consulting projects involve forecasting a client's proprietary data (sales and/or loan volumes, delinquencies, sensitivity or elasticity analysis, etc.). We also customize our existing models to incorporate proprietary detail for clients for alternative simulation analysis. Learn more.

How do I contact you? What is your phone number?

Contact us by phone, live help or email. Client Service representatives are available between 7AM-6PM ET (12PM-11PM GMT), Mon-Fri.

If I have a question about something, how quickly can I expect a response?

Our goal is to answer all questions within four business hours. We often are able to provide answers much more quickly, usually within an hour or two. Questions asked through our toll-free number (+1.866.275.3266) are answered first, then questions asked through Live Help, then questions asked through email.