Abstract
As society changes and patterns of economic development – across regions, countries, markets, companies and other organizations – become more complex and intricate, there is a general wish for reliable and valid indicators of what is going on and where economic development is heading. This study represents a first step toward developing new indicators - forecasts - of economic developments, focusing on expectations among the alumni of the Stockholm School of Economics about the next six months, to be surveyed once a year. The study also aims at explaining how these expectations are formed – what influence the expectations. The expectations are also of interest in their own right, since they show how a specific group of professionals, of which many are rather influential in Swedish businesses and in the society, view the future, which influences their decisions, and which may – after being made known – influence other decision makers.