MAPI – Manufacturers Alliance Economic News and Reports

Issues in the Brief

Manufacturing’s Post-Recession Transformation
Manufacturing industrial production in terms of physical volume peaked in December 2007 before falling 20% over the next 18 months.

What Economists Talk About When They Get Together
I just came back from the annual meeting of the American Economic Association (held this year in Boston). The conference pulls in the largest number of economists in the world for an event of this type. It offered a cornucopia of insights.

Nervous Markets
New Year’s Eve may have come and gone but the wild party in global financial markets looks like it’s just heating up.

Europe in 2015: Watch the Politics
The Eurozone economy will grow at barely 1.5% annually in the next two years. GDP treaded water in 2014 after two years of contraction. In such an environment, incomes stagnate, job prospects remain scarce, and pessimism gets entrenched.

Economic Update

Latin America Manufacturing Outlook December 2014
This biannual report examines the latest trends in selected manufacturing industries in Latin America and provides related forecasts. The focus is on Latin America’s three largest economies—Brazil, Mexico, and Argentina—as these countries account for more than 80% of the region’s manufacturing output.

U.S. Industrial Outlook: Widespread Growth Ahead
Job gains are the core driver of economic growth. Manufacturing will continue to grow faster than the overall economy, though the housing recovery will be less robust than previously forecast.

Manufacturing Activity December 2014
Recent indicators for production, capacity utilization, capital goods and employment paint a relatively positive picture of manufacturing activity. Risks to the outlook include global conflict, falling oil prices and slowing growth in China and the Eurozone.

Asian Manufacturing Outlook December 2014
The slowing in Chinese economic growth has lasted longer than most analysts expected; Japan’s somewhat unforeseen recession and India’s slow progress with economic reform have added to regional weakness.

European Industrial Outlook December 2014
European manufacturing has slowed markedly since our June outlook, though production should accelerate to just over 2% in 2015. The Russia-Ukraine conflict will likely linger on, negatively influencing private sector spending.