Paul Getman is executive director of Moody’s Analytics. Paul oversees the company’s business affairs and strategic planning. With more than 20 years of experience in consulting and research on economic issues, Paul has testified before government agencies and regularly gives speeches on the U.S. outlook for industry and trade groups, nonprofit organizations, and senior corporate management.

Paul has an MA in economics and has completed all but the dissertation requirements of a PhD from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School.

Mark M. Zandi is chief economist of Moody’s Analytics, where he directs economic research. Moody’s Analytics, a subsidiary of Moody’s Corp., is a leading provider of economic research, data and analytical tools. Dr. Zandi is a cofounder of the company Economy.com, which Moody’s purchased in 2005.

Dr. Zandi’s broad research interests encompass macroeconomics, financial markets and public policy. His recent research has focused on mortgage finance reform and the determinants of mortgage foreclosure and personal bankruptcy. He has analyzed the economic impact of various tax and government spending policies and assessed the appropriate monetary policy response to bubbles in asset markets.

A trusted adviser to policymakers and an influential source of economic analysis for businesses, journalists and the public, Dr. Zandi frequently testifies before Congress on topics including the economic outlook, the nation’s daunting fiscal challenges, the merits of fiscal stimulus, financial regulatory reform, and foreclosure mitigation.

Dr. Zandi conducts regular briefings on the economy for corporate boards, trade associations and policymakers at all levels. He is on the board of directors of MGIC, the nation’s largest private mortgage insurance company, and The Reinvestment Fund, a large CDFI that makes investments in disadvantaged neighborhoods. He is often quoted in national and global publications and interviewed by major news media outlets, and is a frequent guest on CNBC, NPR, Meet the Press, CNN, and various other national networks and news programs.

Dr. Zandi is the author of Paying the Price: Ending the Great Recession and Beginning a New American Century, which provides an assessment of the monetary and fiscal policy response to the Great Recession. His other book, Financial Shock: A 360º Look at the Subprime Mortgage Implosion, and How to Avoid the Next Financial Crisis, is described by the New York Times as the “clearest guide” to the financial crisis.

Dr. Zandi earned his BS from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and his PhD at the University of Pennsylvania. He lives with his wife and three children in the suburbs of Philadelphia.

Jared Bernstein joined the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities in May 2011 as a Senior Fellow. From 2009 to 2011, Bernstein was the Chief Economist and Economic Adviser to Vice President Joe Biden, executive director of the White House Task Force on the Middle Class, and a member of President Obama’s economic team.

Bernstein’s areas of expertise include federal and state economic and fiscal policies, income inequality and mobility, trends in employment and earnings, international comparisons, and the analysis of financial and housing markets.

Prior to joining the Obama administration, Bernstein was a senior economist and the director of the Living Standards Program at the Economic Policy Institute in Washington DC.

Between 1995 and 1996, he held the post of deputy chief economist at the U.S. Department of Labor.

He is the author and coauthor of numerous books for both popular and academic audiences, including “Crunch: Why Do I Feel So Squeezed?” and nine editions of "The State of Working America." Bernstein has published extensively in various venues, including The New York Times, Washington Post, Financial Times, and Research in Economics and Statistics. He is an on-air commentator for the cable stations CNBC and MSNBC and hosts the popular economics blog “jaredbernsteinblog.com”.

Bernstein holds a PhD in Social Welfare from Columbia University. 

Andres Carbacho-Burgos is a senior economist with Moody’s Analytics. He covers housing and state and regional economies, and writes frequently about inflation for Precis Macro from the company's West Chester PA office. Before joining Moody’s Analytics, he taught economics at Texas State University, where he also researched open-economy macroeconomics and income inequality. He obtained his PhD and master's degrees in economics from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and his bachelor’s degree in economics from Carleton College.

Steven G. Cochrane is managing director of Moody’s Analytics, where he directs the research and development activities of the research staff. Steve’s research specialty is regional economics and he manages the U.S. regional forecasting service. Steve also edits the Regional Financial Review, the firm’s monthly publication that analyzes U.S. macro, regional, industry and international trends. Steve has been an analyst with Moody’s Analytics since 1993. He earned a PhD in regional science at the University of Pennsylvania and is a Penn Institute for Urban Research Scholar. Steve earned a master's degree at the University of Colorado at Denver, and a bachelor's degree at the University of California at Davis.

Alfredo Coutino is a director at Moody’s Analytics. Dr. Coutino is responsible for analysis, modeling and forecasting for Latin America. Based in the West Chester PA office, he is in charge of real-time coverage of Latin America for the Dismal Scientist web site. He is also a regular contributor to the World Workstation. He has been a speaker at United Nations conferences and at the American Economic Association and has published papers on applied econometrics with Nobel laureate Lawrence Klein. Dr. Coutino received his PhD in economics from the University of Madrid after completing doctoral studies at Temple University.

Andrew Davis is an economist with Moody’s Analytics. He covers the Missouri and New Hampshire economies. Prior to joining the West Chester office, Andrew worked as an economist in the Consumer Price Indexes office at the Bureau of Labor Statistics in Washington DC. He received a master's degree in applied economics from Johns Hopkins University and a bachelor's degree in economics from Michigan State University.

Cristian deRitis is a director at Moody's Analytics. He performs consumer credit modeling and analysis with the Credit Analytics group and contributes to the analysis for CreditForecast.com. Before joining the Moody's Analytics West Chester PA operation, Cris worked for Fannie Mae and taught at Johns Hopkins University in Washington DC. He received a PhD and MA in economics from Johns Hopkins University and graduated summa cum laude from Michigan State University with a bachelor's degree in economics.

Marisa Di Natale is a director at Moody’s Analytics. Ms. Di Natale is responsible for state and metro area forecast models, analysis of the U.S. labor market, and Précis Metro editing. Her areas of specialization include the New York economy and the banking and securities brokerage industries. Previously, she was an economist at the Bureau of Labor Statistics in Washington DC, where she analyzed monthly employment statistics. Ms. Di Natale received an MA in applied economics from Johns Hopkins University and a BA in international relations from Boston University.

Arijit Dutta is a senior economist at Moody’s Analytics. Jeet covers economic analysis for several metro areas in Minnesota and Florida and writes about U.S. inflation and cost pressures in the firm’s flagship Précis Macro publication. Before joining Moody’s Analytics, he worked as a fund analyst at Morningstar for five years. Jeet has a PhD in economics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Monmouth College.

Mark Hopkins is a senior economist at Moody’s Analytics. His responsibilities include macroeconomic research, international forecasting, and U.S. federal fiscal policy. Dr. Hopkins contributes to the Moody’s Analytics U.S. macroeconomic model and is responsible for forecasting Canada’s economy. Previously, Mark taught macroeconomics at Gettysburg College and served as international economist on the staff of the President’s Council of Economic Advisers. He has published articles and chapters related to international economics, economic growth and foreign policy. He received his PhD in economics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, an MSc from the London School of Economics, and a BA from Wesleyan University.

Scott Hoyt is senior director of consumer economics for Moody's Analytics. He is responsible for the firm’s consumer forecasts and analysis, assists in the production of its U.S. economic forecast, and is a regular contributor to the Economy.com web site and a regular speaker at our client conferences. He is a lead analyst for CreditForecast.com

Before joining Moody’s Analytics, Dr. Hoyt spent five years as an economist for J.C. Penney, where he did extensive work in the company's credit department. He received his PhD and MA in economics from the University of Pennsylvania and his BA summa cum laude from Bates College.

Tony Hughes is a managing director in the Economic & Consumer Credit group at Moody’s Analytics. He is the head of a small group of high-caliber modelers, charged with identifying new business opportunities for the company. Prior to this appointment, he led the Consumer Credit Analytics team for eight years from its inception in 2007. His first role after joining the company in 2003 was as lead economist and head of the Sydney office of the company Moody’s Economy.com.

Dr. Hughes helped develop a number of Moody’s Analytics products. He proposed the methodology behind CreditCycle and CreditForecast 4.0, developed the pilot version of the Stressed EDF module for CreditEdge, and initiated the construction of the Default, Prepayment and Loss Curves product, which provides forecasts and stress scenarios of collateral performance for asset-backed securities and residential mortgage-backed securities deals worldwide. More recently, he championed the development of the Pre-Provision Net Revenue Factors Library, a tool that provides industry-level projections of key bank balance sheet line items. In the credit field, Dr. Hughes’ research has covered all forms of retail lending, large corporate loans, commercial real estate, peer-to-peer, structured finance, and the full range of PPNR elements. He has conducted innovative research in deposit modeling and in the construction of macroeconomic scenarios for use in stress-testing.

Dr. Hughes has managed a wide variety of large projects for major banks and other lending institutions. In addition, he has published widely in industry publications such as American Banker, Nikkei, GARP, and the Journal of Structured Finance as well as four papers in peer-reviewed academic journals. He obtained his PhD in econometrics from Monash University in Australia in 1997.

Ilir Hysa is an economist at Moody’s Analytics. He covers U.S. state and regional economies. His responsibilities also include housing research and international forecasts. Before joining Moody’s Analytics, Ilir held research positions at the Brookings Institution and the Research Foundation of the City University of New York. Ilir received his PhD in economics from the Graduate Center of the City University of New York, his master’s degree in economics from Hunter College of the City University of New York, and his bachelor’s degree in physics from the University of Tirana, Albania.

Adam Kamins is a senior economist at Moody’s Analytics. He manages the firm’s U.S. subnational forecasting service, overseeing the generation of all state and metro area baseline figures while working closely with clients on customized scenarios. In addition, Adam covers a wide variety of topics related to regional economics and serves as the firm’s primary expert on the New York and Northeast economies. Other responsibilities include developing and maintaining a variety of specialized models, including the Moody’s Analytics commercial real estate forecasts and client-specific databases.

Adam’s work has been featured by such outlets as CBS, NBC, CNBC, Fox, the Houston Chronicle, and the New York Post, among others. He has also been cited frequently by Crain’s New York Business on a wide variety of issues. Adam regularly presents to a diverse group of audiences on the national and regional economic outlook, as well as specific areas of interest including affordable housing, single-family rental homes, the impact of low oil prices, and regional convergence.

Prior to joining Moody’s Analytics, Adam was a research manager at the Initiative for a Competitive Inner City, where he analyzed urban economies across the U.S. He holds a master’s degree in business administration from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and a bachelor’s degree in quantitative economics from Tufts University.

Brian Kessler is an economist with Moody’s Analytics. He covers federal fiscal policy and the economy of Michigan. Before joining the West Chester office, Brian worked on budget, and transportation and infrastructure issues in the U.S. House of Representatives. Brian will soon complete an MS in Applied Economics at Johns Hopkins University. He also holds a BA in Psychology from the University of Minnesota–Twin Cities and an MA in Linguistics from the University of Freiburg, Germany.

Sophia Koropeckyj is a managing director for Moody’s Analytics. Sophia oversees the firm's publications and consulting projects, edits many of the publications, trains new staff members, and gives presentations to clients and trade groups. She covers labor markets, auto-related industries, and the midwestern economy. Based in West Chester PA, Sophia has been with Moody’s Analytics since 1994. Previously, she worked as an economist for the Great Lakes Trade Adjustment Assistance Center and WEFA. Sophia has completed all but the dissertation portion of her doctoral studies in economics at the University of Michigan. She earned a master’s degree in finance at Drexel University and a bachelor’s degree in economics and history at the University of Pennsylvania.

Chris Lafakis is a senior economist at Moody's Analytics. His expertise is in model development, model validation, macroeconomics and energy economics. Based in West Chester PA, he also covers the California economy and contributes to the Economy.com web site. Chris has been quoted by media outlets, including CNBC and The Wall Street Journal, and often speaks at economic conferences and events. He received his bachelor's degree in economics from the Georgia Institute of Technology and his master's degree in economics from the University of Alabama.

Daniel Melser is a Senior Economist at the Moody's Analytics office in Sydney. Daniel received a PhD in Economics from the University of New South Wales, Australia. Daniel has worked as a lecturer of economics as well as in the production, compilation and development of official statistics. His primary research interests are in the areas of inflation measurement, economic growth, the Chinese economy, house prices, and empirical macroeconomics.

Alexander Miron is an associate economist in the West Chester office of Moody's Analytics. In addition to contributing to the Dismal Scientist web site, he covers state and regional economies in the U.S. and Canada. He received his bachelor's degree in economics from Ursinus College.

Tu Packard is an senior economist at Moody's Analytics specializing in developing and transition economies. A graduate of Bryn Mawr College and Columbia University, she has published papers on the international business cycle, prototype models for developing and transition economies, the effects of external liberalization on economic performance and social policy implications, banking system crises, and early warning indicators. She has more than 20 years of experience in international economic consulting for clients that include the United Nations, the World Bank, the Ford Foundation, business enterprises, and academic institutions. She has worked in numerous capacity-building projects on monetary, macroeconomic and structural reform policies, state enterprise reform, poverty reduction strategies, governance and gender issues, and the public investment program.

Aaron Smith is a senior economist for Moody’s Analytics and associate editor of the North American edition of the Dismal Scientist web site, producing real-time online commentary and weekly analysis on the U.S. macroeconomy. Based in West Chester PA, he helps oversee the U.S. Dismal team, which generates forecasts for high-frequency economic indicators. He conducts regular briefings on the economy and is frequently quoted in national and global news outlets. Mr. Smith received his BA in economics and business administration from Coe College, where he graduated summa cum laude and researched asset bubbles and capital markets.

Ruth Stroppiana is chief international economist at Moody's Analytics. Based in Sydney, Dr. Stroppiana is responsible for global macroeconomic research on the Economy.com web site. Dr. Stroppiana also oversees the global forecasting service, including non-U.S. alternative scenarios. Dr. Stroppiana writes on a variety of issues for the Economy.com web site and the Regional Financial Review. She formerly directed EMEA economics in the Moody's Analytics London office and has extensive experience in analyzing countries in the Asia-Pacific region and Europe and in international economic consulting. She speaks regularly at Moody’s Analytics client conferences and has been quoted in a variety of regional and global publications and interviewed by major news media outlets. Dr. Stroppiana received her PhD in economics from the University of Queensland, Australia.

Ryan Sweet is director of real-time economics at Moody's Analytics. He is also editor-in-chief of the Economy.com web site, to which he regularly contributes, and a member of the U.S. macroeconomics team in West Chester PA. His areas of specialization include U.S. monetary policy and forecasting high-frequency economic indicators. He is also an adjunct professor in the Economics and Finance Department at West Chester University of Pennsylvania. He received his master's degree in economics from the University of Delaware and his bachelor's degree in economics from Washington College.

Deniz K. Tudor is a senior economist at Moody’s Analytics and a member of the Credit Analytics group. Deniz develops and stress-tests credit models in various consulting projects.  Before joining Moody’s Analytics, Deniz worked as a tenure-track assistant professor at San Francisco State University and taught various finance and risk management courses. She has also published academic articles. She has extensive exposure to modeling residential, auto, and credit card loans. Deniz holds a PhD from the Economics Department at the University of California, San Diego, and BA degrees in economics and business administration from Koc University in Turkey.

Petr Zemcik is director of economic research at the Moody’s Analytics London office. He is responsible for analysis, modeling and forecasting for Europe. Dr. Zemcik also supervises the real-time coverage of Europe for the Economy.com web site. He previously worked at CERGE-EI, a joint workplace of the Center for Economic Research and Graduate Education of Charles University in Prague and the Economics Institute of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, and at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale. He has published numerous articles on econometric methodology and on real estate bubbles in the U.S. and in Europe in peer-reviewed professional journals. He holds a PhD and MA in economics from the University of Pittsburgh and MSc in econometrics and operations research from the University of Economics in Prague.