Economic Research & Forecasting for the United States

Michael Pearce is Chief US Economist at Oxford Economics, based in New York. He leads US macroeconomic research and forecasting, and his team is ranked among Bloomberg’s top forecasters for major US economic indicators. Before joining Oxford Economics, Michael was a senior economist on the US team at Capital Economics and worked at HM Treasury in the UK. He holds degrees in Economic History from the London School of Economics and in Economics from University College London, and has lived and worked in the UK and Switzerland.

Debra D’Agostino is Chief Capability Officer at Oxford Economics, overseeing the company’s global human resources team as well as people-focused initiatives to support digital transformation, innovation and the adoption of best practices.

Based in New York, Debra joined Oxford Economics in 2011 to launch the company’s Thought Leadership division, which she continues to lead as Managing Director. She oversees a global team of editors, researchers and analysts who conduct ground-breaking research programs in partnership with the world’s most forward-looking organizations, on topics ranging from business transformation, emerging technology, diversity and inclusion, talent and leadership to risk management and corporate finance. She also serves as Co-Managing Director for Oxford Economics USA, and is a member of the company’s Board of Directors.

Debra joined the firm from the Economist Intelligence Unit, the research arm of the Economist Group, where she led the company’s business research department for the Americas. Prior to the EIU, she served as an editor and writer at CIO Insight, the award-winning business and technology strategy journal she helped launch at Ziff Davis Media in 2001. She holds a bachelor of science in journalism from the Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University.

Mark Killion, CFA, is Director of US Industry Services at Oxford Economics, with extensive experience in research and modelling for economics and finance, also skilled in the presentation of insightful conclusions and strategies. Killion brings value to companies and governments by developing state-of-the-art products that use innovative metrics to reliably forecast market conditions, and benchmark business performances.

As a Lead economist at Oxford Economics, Barbara brings a seasoned approach to the study of US cities. She works in Oxford Economics’ division of Cities and Regions analysis where she leads in writing reports on US metros. Prior to joining Oxford Economics, she worked six years for Moody’s Analytics REIS where she did similar work and wrote a number of white papers covering metro-level analyses including the Impact of the Tax and Jobs Act on Commercial Real Estate; Amazon HQ2, a Scoring Analysis; and the Economics of College Towns. Barbara’s work is frequently cited by the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Crains New York Business and numerous other publications.

Prior to working at Moody’s, Barbara worked more than 20 years at various commercial real estate firms including Jones Lang LaSalle and Eastern Consolidated where she focused on writing market reports and white papers.

Barbara holds a bachelor’s in business administration from the University of Notre Dame and is a Ph. D. candidate in Economics from New York University.

Mario Iacobacci is an accomplished infrastructure economist who brings deep experience across major infrastructure projects, public policy, and economic advisory work, with a strong track record supporting governments, investors, and industry on complex, high-profile assignments. He has an international track record in transportation and infrastructure economics, labour markets and other applied microeconomic issues – having worked across the US, UK and Canada in the last 30 years.

Mario’s expertise covers business cases – notably cost-benefit analysis for publicly funded infrastructure – as well as cost escalation analysis; infrastructure market capacity and labour market analysis; economic development and infrastructure strategy; economic analysis of major infrastructure projects; and expert witness and litigation support work on construction and infrastructure issue.

Mario holds a PhD in Economics from the University of Cambridge and contributes actively to the field through leadership roles including as Chair of the U.S. Transportation Research Board’s Standing Committee on Freight Transportation Economics and Regulation (2017-23) and longstanding member of the Metrolinx Project Evaluation Advisory Panel.