2008 Will Bring Changes to The Regional Economist

Dear Readers,

Last year, we surveyed you to find out what you like and dislike about The Regional Economist. We also solicited your suggestions for making this publication better.

At long last, we’re ready to share the results of this survey and to let you know what changes we are planning at your suggestion.

The changes will debut with our January 2008 issue—the 15th anniversary of this publication. Although we are still mulling over what should go into the “new and improved” RE, we’re quite certain that you will see one additional article by our economists in each issue, as well as a new section that will give you a forum for your comments and questions. This section will also include results from our online polls and announcements of special programs involving our economists that are open to the public. In all of our articles, you may see a bit more zing, as our writers anticipate conflicting viewpoints and address those. They will also embrace well-reasoned debate and seek out more-timely angles—without rehashing what appears in the popular press.

Changes in the “look” of RE are also in the works. We’ll switch to a more-traditional size—8.5 X 11, something many of you have requested to make filing easier. As we add pages, we will have space for more charts, photos and other artwork. The goal is to create a publication that you and others will want to spend more time with—and to increase everyone’s understanding of major economic issues of the day.

These are not dramatic changes. But you didn’t want such. In fact, many who responded to our survey asked us not to change a thing. On average, you gave The Regional Economist a score of 4.35 on a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being the highest. You told us your favorite articles were those on monetary policy, on national public policy issues (such as Social Security, health insurance and the minimum wage) and on national economic benchmarks (GDP, CPI, etc.). You expressed a strong interest in articles in which multiple sides of an issue are argued, and you gave us hundreds of ideas for new issues to write about, everything from the overuse of credit to privatization to the underground economy.

The number of you who filled out our lengthy survey was flattering—more than 1,700 of our 12,000 subscribers. Here’s some basic demographic info on RE readers: We’re middle-aged, with almost 60 percent of us being between 41 and 65. We’re well-educated: 39 percent have a master’s degree and 28 percent have a doctorate. We work in a wide variety of fields: 23 percent in teaching or academic research, 16 percent in corporations, 15 percent in other financial services, 12 percent in banking. While our target audience is largely business executives, 45 percent of those who took the survey have some kind of degree in economics and 23 percent currently work as economists. Although we have “regional” in our name, only 32 percent of us live or work in the Eighth Federal Reserve District—our region. Surveys were returned not only from almost every U.S. state but from more than 20 countries.

One surprise was the lukewarm response to our ideas to expand our online presence. Relatively few of you said you’d read blogs, listen to podcasts or tune in to online chats with our economists. In fact, fewer than 40 of you took the survey online, even though we had it posted on our web site for months. Nonetheless, we are going to continue to offer more RE-related content online: audio interviews with economists; reader polls; charts, photos and articles to supplement what you get in the version of RE we mail to you each quarter. We think that, despite a slow start, our Internet presence is destined to become more popular. But don’t worry—we have no plans to get rid of the printed version of RE.

Thank you for reading this—and for reading RE.

Michael R. Pakko and Howard J. Wall, Co-editors

For more on our survey, watch this PowerPoint.

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