Constance Hunter is the Chief Economist of the Economist Intelligence Unit. One of the world’s top business economists, she is known for forecasting pivotal market events. Constance is an expert in macroeconomic and industry analysis, with a track record of using data driven sectoral analysis to be ahead of the curve on pivotal economic events, including the soft landing of inflation and the economy in 2023, the rise in long rates in the second half of 2023, the impacts of COVID-19 on the U.S. and other global economies, the 2008 real estate and credit crisis, and the 2001 bust of the Dotcom bubble. She frequently speaks at clients’ board meetings, client events and to leadership teams, where she shares the EIU’s views on the economy, geopolitics, and the impact of technology on companies and the markets. She has long advised governmental statistical agencies, central banks, and companies on matters of the economy.
Prior to joining the EIU Constance was Executive Vice President and Global Head of Strategy and ESG at AIG. She was instrumental in advancing AIG’s understanding of the economic and risk consequences of ongoing climate volatility. Due to her data-driven insights, Constance was asked to head Strategy in an EVP role at AIG’s Life and Retirement subsidiary, Corbridge Financial where she led the development of a strategic plan that would prepare the company to be a stand-alone publicly traded entity.
Prior to AIG, Constance was recruited into the newly created role of Chief Economist at KPMG. She built and led the team that became the Office of the Chief Economist. This department served KPMG’s clients and the firm with actionable economic insights. While at KPMG, she was tapped for increasing leadership roles, serving as a member of the KPMG pension advisory committee as well as the Growth and Strategy leadership team. Constance started her career as an economist in foreign exchange at The Chase Manhattan Bank N.A. before moving to the buy-side and running global portfolios for nearly two decades.
Constance is currently a board member on the National Bureau for Economic Research (NBER), a member of the Federal Economic Statistics Advisory Committee (FESAC), and she is a National Association for Business Economics (NABE) Fellow where she previously served as President. Constance has been a member of the National Association for U.S.-China relations since 2004 and she participates in the biannual Track II Economic Dialogs. Active in many economics associations and think tanks, she is a member of the Forecaster’s Club, the Conference of Business Economists and she is a lifetime member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
She regularly shares her insights with major media outlets, including Bloomberg TV, CNBC, Fox Business, The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times, to name a few. Constance earned a BA in Economics and Sociology from New York University, a master’s degree from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs and she holds the Certified Business Economist designation from the National Association for Business Economics.