Donald Ratajczak, Ph.D.
Donald Ratajczak, Ph.D. works with Raymond James Fixed Income as its exclusive consulting economist. He is one of the leading econometric forecasters in the country currently serving as Regents Professor Emeritus of Economics at Georgia State University, having retired in 2000 after serving 27 years as Director of the Economic Forecasting Center in the J. Mack Robinson College of Business.
Dr. Ratajczak has developed econometric models for the United States, the Southeast, and several individual states. He produces two regular publications for Raymond James, including a weekly economic commentary and forecast and a monthly forecast of short-term national and financial conditions.
Dr. Ratajczak speaks before numerous business organizations and groups. He also speaks before or provides consulting services to numerous corporations, business organizations and governmental entities. Dr. Ratajczak has been quoted and interviewed extensively by both the print and broadcast media which has included The New York Times, Journal of Commerce, Business Week, Fortune, The Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, Time, The Los Angeles Times, NBC, CNBC and CNN.
Dr. Ratajczak ranked second for 2005 and fourth for 2006 in a national survey of the most accurate economic forecasters of the U.S. economy by USA Todayand the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. In this annual survey, the nation’s top 45 economists receive scores reflecting the accuracy of their forecasts against the actual outcomes for the economy in each of the previous year’s four quarters. The final rankings were based on the averages of those four scores.
Dr. Ratajczak received the U.S. Blue Chip Economic Forecasting Award on November 9, 1994 for the most accurate U.S. Blue Chip forecast during the previous four years. His former center was recently named as the most accurate of all University Centers in the 1986-2001 period studied by the Atlanta Federal Reserve.
Dr. Ratajczak received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Haverford College and his Doctorate of economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.