Report of the Fourth District Economists' Roundtable

Uncertainties always cloud the economic horizon, and current conditions are no exception to that rule. The surge in business activity during the final quarter of 1993 raises the immediate question of whether the economy can maintain some of this momentum during the coming year, or whether the rapid year-end growth rate borrowed some strength from early 1994. One of the longer-term uncertainties is how forecasters judge the economy's inflationary potential. To help sort through these and other issues, the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland hosted its most recent gathering of the Fourth District Economists' Roundtable on January 21.