Business Survey in Focus: Manufacturing of Print Products; Reproduction of Recorded Media

The Ifo Business Survey for manufacturing, which polls a wide range of companies from highly diverse product groups on their current business expectation and expectations, was conducted on a monthly basis as early as 1949. Its qualitative survey data have turned out to be a useful early indicator for real economic developments in the respective sectors of the economy. An analysis of the reliability of the survey results for the “Manufacturing of Print Products; Reproduction of Recorded Media” segment - using a correlation analysis of the Ifo Institute’s survey data with data from the German Federal Statistics Office on the growth rates of production and turnover indices (IU) as a reference series - shows that the corresponding Ifo survey data trace the annual rates of change very accurately. This means that a look at the survey reveals the branch’s current stage in the business cycle.