About Us

Why Capital Economics?

Compared to other independent providers of macroeconomic research, we have three outstanding qualities:

  • The quality and breadth of our staff. Unlike some economics consultancies, we are not a one or two man band. We employ more than 15 economists and a similar number of support and administrative staff. This means that, for economic research, our staffing is higher than almost all banks or brokerage houses anywhere in the world. Moreover, our key people all have extensive front-line experience of financial markets. Our high staffing levels and wide expertise give us strength in depth, and enable us to provide the full service which clients need.
  • The style and content of our research. It is concise, timely and written in a jargon-free and user-friendly style. We are acutely conscious of the competing pressures on our clients’ time. Accordingly, our written research is designed so that clients can, if they so wish, quickly glean the essential message without reading the whole document.
  • The flexibility of our services. Our research is provided in several different subject streams and each stream is available in a series of packages, covering different combinations of publications, presentations and personal contact. This allows clients to select subject areas and packages which exactly suit their needs – and their budgets. Moreover, we are happy to include several people at the same institution on our lists to receive research, all covered by the one subscription. And we are happy to include some people to receive some sorts of research and not others, while other people receive the lot – whatever arrangement best suits the client. This applies to both printed and e-mailed documents.

The quality of our staff shows up in our track record. We can point to many recent successful predictions – often as a lone voice.

Examples include:

  • We first warned of the growing threat to the US economy from a slump in the housing market in late 2005. And throughout 2007 we forecast that the Fed would be forced to cut interest rates by the end of the year.
  • We predicted that the euro-zone would significantly outperform expectations in 2006 and 2007, and that ECB interest rates would rise more sharply as a result.
  • In 2005, when the dollar was at 1.20 to the euro, we forecast a decline to 1.40 within two years.
  • We predicted that UK interest rates would rise more sharply than the markets were expecting in 2007 in response to the MPC’s concerns over the outlook for inflation.
  • In May 2007 we correctly predicted a sizeable investment-led correction in commercial property capital values.
  • We have been consistently positive on the Chinese economy, even when others have predicted a hard landing.
  • We warned in 2005 that the growth of UK consumer spending would slow sharply that year as a result of a sharp slowdown in house price inflation.
  • In August 2004 we said that UK interest rates had peaked and would fall in 2005.
  • In July 2004 we forecast that weak economic growth would keep euro-zone rates at record lows for at least another year.
 
The Leading Independant Economic Research Consultancy
Capital Economics