Business: Predictions for 1970

ECONOMICS is the perilous profession, whose leading practitioners put their forecasts on the record in hard numbers almost every year. Members of TIME’s Board of Economists, who met this month with the editorial staff in Manhattan and supplied much of the material for the accompanying cover story, made the following first predictions for 1970:

GNP Real Growth Inflationary Total Growth Unemployment (in billions) Growth* Average Peak

Otto Eckstein $992 1.9% 4.4% 6.3% 4.3% 4.6% David Grove $981.3 .9% 4.3% 5.2% 4.4% 4.8% Walter Heller $988 .2% .4% .6% 4.3% to 4.5% 4.7% to 5% Robert Nathan $980 1.5% 4% plus 5.5% 4.5% minus near 5% Joseph Pechman $990 2.2% 4% 6.2% 4.5% 4.8% Arthur Okun $987 2% 4% 6% 4.5% minus 5% to 5.5% Beryl Sprinkle $966 none 4% 4% 4.8% 6%

*As measured by the “GNP deflator,” which calculates average price increases and takes into account seasonal adjustments and other factors.