Earning its name due to the color of its cover, the Beige Book (Off-site) is an economic report published by the Federal Reserve System.
What is the Beige Book and its purpose?
More formally known as the Summary of Commentary on Current Economic Conditions by Federal Reserve District, the Beige Book is published eight times a year, often before Federal Open Market Committee (Off-site) meetings.
The report summarizes regional economic conditions based on information and data gathered from each of the 12 Federal Reserve Banks about their home districts and can cover the following topics:
- Economic activity
- Labor markets
- Prices
- Retail and tourism
- Manufacturing
- Real estate
- Transportation
- Banking and finance
On a rolling basis, each Federal Reserve Bank takes a turn preparing the report. The Beige Book details regional economic changes since the last report and also serves as an avenue for the Federal Reserve Banks to foster connections with the communities of their districts.
How does the Federal Reserve collect and use information in the Beige Book?
Each Federal Reserve Bank must gather information on the current economic conditions of its respective district. To help ensure a more accurate portrayal of its district’s economic state, each Bank collects data from a broad range of sources. To do this, it interviews and surveys businesses, organizations, economists, market experts and other sources. Additionally, Bank and branch directors play a role developing reports.
Ultimately, the Beige Book assesses economic conditions across the country and identifies emerging trends, which can help determine the outlook for the national economy (Off-site).
See the most recent Beige Book (Off-site), released on March 5, and find past reports in the Beige Book archive (Off-site).
