Philadelphia Fed Survey
Categories: Education, Financial Theory
Soda versus pop. Walking fast versus a slow stroll. Wicked versus hella. West coast versus east.
If you’re from hella-land, you probably are unfamiliar with the Philadelphia Fed Survey. The Philadelphia Fed Survey tracks manufacturing in Eastern Pennsylvania, Southern New Jersey, and Delaware...the Third Federal Reserve District in the U.S. FWIW, there are twelve, and they generally cover more land the farther west you go, just like the U.S. states.
The survey gets sent to manufacturers in the area every month. They answer questions about how their business is going, and what they expect in the future. It’s voluntary, so firms can tell the Fed all about their inventory, delivery times, prices, and all that jazz if they want to…or not, if they don’t.
The Philadelphia Fed Survey’s strength isn’t in its wide-scale, economic predictive power. While manufacturing in general is an economic indicator worth looking at, the small area the survey covers keeps it from being a super-reliable proxy for the whole nation. Where the Philadelphia Fed Survey shines is in its age. It’s been going since 1968, which means lots of historical data for economists and statisticians to play with. Oh so fun.
