Scott A. Brave
Senior Economist and Economic Advisor
About
Scott A. Brave is a senior economist and economic advisor in the economic research department of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. His current research is focused on the use of high-frequency and other big data sources in forecasting applications, mixed-frequency econometric modeling, and sports economics. His past research has been published in journals such as the International Journal of Forecasting, International Journal of Central Banking, Business Horizons, Business Economics, Journal of Statistical Software, Growth and Change: A Journal of Urban and Regional Policy, STATA Journal, Journal of Sports Economics, and Journal of Sports Analytics as well as featured in Chicago Fed research publications, including Economic Perspectives, Chicago Fed Letter, and Chicago Fed Insights. Brave received a BA in economics with honors from the University of Chicago and an MBA with concentrations in economics, statistics, and finance from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.
Bank Publications
Chicago Fed Insights
Scott A. Brave, Ben Henken, Ezra Karger | 2025 | July
Scott A. Brave, Ross Cole, Katherine Jolley, Ezra Karger | 2024 | December
Scott A. Brave, Lucas Cain, Ross Cole, Ezra Karger | 2024 | July
Max Gillet, Scott A. Brave | 2024 | June
Scott A. Brave, Ezra Karger | 2024 | January
Scott A. Brave, Levi Bognar, R. Andrew Butters | 2023 | June
Scott A. Brave, Ross Cole, Michael Fogarty, Ezra Karger, Liam Puknys | 2021 | July
Scott A. Brave, Stephanie Grove | 2021 | July
Scott A. Brave, Ross Cole | 2020 | August
Scott A. Brave, R. Andrew Butters, Michael Fogarty | 2020 | July
Scott A. Brave, R. Andrew Butters, Michael Fogarty | 2020 | June
Scott A. Brave, Ross Cole | 2020 | June
Scott A. Brave, Ross Cole, Michael Fogarty | 2020 | May
Chicago Fed Letter
Scott A. Brave, Ben Henken, Ezra Karger | 2025 | No. 506 | June
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Scott A. Brave, Ben Henken, Bart Hobijn, Ezra Karger, Anna Paulson, Jim Royal | 2024 | No. 503 | October
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Jacob S. Herbstman, Scott A. Brave | 2023 | No. 490 | November
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Scott A. Brave, Ross Cole, Stephanie Grove | 2021 | No. 461 | October
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Scott A. Brave, R. Andrew Butters, Michael Fogarty | 2020 | No. 447 | October
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Daniel Aaronson, Scott A. Brave, R. Andrew Butters, Michael Fogarty | 2020 | No. 436 | May
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Scott A. Brave, Ross Cole, Paul Traub | 2020 | No. 434 | March
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Scott A. Brave, Ross Cole, David Kelley | 2019 | No. 422
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Scott A. Brave, David Kelley | 2018 | No. 403
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Scott A. Brave, David Kelley | 2017 | No. 386
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Scott A. Brave, Paul Traub | 2017 | No. 376
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Daniel Aaronson, Scott A. Brave, Ross Cole | 2016 | No. 366
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Daniel Aaronson, Scott A. Brave, David Kelley | 2016 | No. 359
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Scott A. Brave, Thomas Walstrum | 2014 | No. 328 | November
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Daniel Aaronson, Scott A. Brave | 2013 | No. 312 | July
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Scott A. Brave, R. Andrew Butters | 2013 | No. 311 | June
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Scott A. Brave, R. Andrew Butters | 2012 | No. 305 | December
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Scott A. Brave, Max Lichtenstein | 2012 | No. 298 | May
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Scott A. Brave, Norman Wang | 2011 | No. 293 | December
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Scott A. Brave, Chenfei Lu | 2010 | No. 280 | November
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Scott A. Brave, R. Andrew Butters | 2010 | No. 273 | April
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Scott A. Brave | 2009 | No. 268 | November
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Daniel Aaronson, Scott A. Brave | 2009 | No. 263 | June
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Scott A. Brave | 2008 | No. 250 | May
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Economic Perspectives
Scott A. Brave, R. Andrew Butters, David Kelley | 2019 | Vol. 43 | No. 1 | February
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Scott A. Brave, Thomas Walstrum, Jacob Berman | 2015 | Vol. 39 | 3rd Quarter
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Scott A. Brave, R. Andrew Butters | 2014 | Vol. 38
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Scott A. Brave, R. Andrew Butters | 2011 | Vol. 35 | No. 1
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Scott A. Brave, Jonas D. M. Fisher | 2004 | Vol. 28 | No. 4 | November | 4th Quarter
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Michigan Economy Blog
What Does Detroit’s 2019 Per Capita Income Growth Tell Us About the City’s Pre-Pandemic Renaissance?
Scott A. Brave, Ross Cole, Elizabeth Kepner, Leslie McGranahan, Paul Traub | 2021 | May
Midwest Economy Blog
Scott A. Brave | 2017 | April
Scott A. Brave | 2016 | April
Thomas Walstrum, Scott A. Brave | 2015 | April
Thomas Walstrum, Scott A. Brave | 2015 | March
Scott A. Brave, Thomas Walstrum | 2015 | February
Scott A. Brave, Thomas Walstrum | 2014 | December
Thomas Walstrum, Scott A. Brave | 2014 | October
Scott A. Brave, Thomas Walstrum | 2014 | October
Thomas Walstrum, Scott A. Brave | 2014 | July
Thomas Walstrum, Scott A. Brave | 2014 | June
Thomas Walstrum, Scott A. Brave | 2014 | April
Thomas Walstrum, Scott A. Brave | 2014 | March
Thomas Walstrum, Scott A. Brave | 2014 | January
Scott A. Brave, Thomas Walstrum | 2013 | December
Thomas Walstrum, Scott A. Brave | 2013 | October
Thomas Walstrum, Scott A. Brave | 2013 | September
Norman Wang, Scott A. Brave | 2013 | July
Norman Wang, Scott A. Brave | 2013 | June
Norman Wang, Scott A. Brave | 2013 | April
Norman Wang, Scott A. Brave | 2013 | March
Norman Wang, Scott A. Brave | 2013 | March
Norman Wang, Scott A. Brave | 2013 | January
Norman Wang, Scott A. Brave | 2012 | December
Norman Wang, Scott A. Brave | 2012 | July
Scott A. Brave, Norman Wang | 2012 | June
Scott A. Brave, Norman Wang | 2012 | April
Scott A. Brave, Norman Wang | 2012 | March
Norman Wang, Scott A. Brave | 2012 | January
Max Lichtenstein, Scott A. Brave | 2011 | November
Scott A. Brave, Norman Wang | 2011 | November
Norman Wang, Scott A. Brave | 2011 | September
Norman Wang, Scott A. Brave | 2011 | August
Scott A. Brave | 2011 | March
Working papers
Working Papers
Levi Bognar, Scott A. Brave, Thomas H. Klier, Leslie McGranahan | 2023 | No. 2023-35 | September
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Tracking U.S. Consumers in Real Time with a New Weekly Index of Retail Trade (REVISED November 2021)
Scott A. Brave, Michael Fogarty, Daniel Aaronson, Ezra Karger, Spencer Krane | 2021 | No. 2021-05 | March
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Scott A. Brave, R. Andrew Butters, Michael Fogarty | 2020 | No. 2020-35 | December
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Daniel Aaronson, Scott A. Brave, R. Andrew Butters, Daniel Sacks, Boyoung Seo | 2020 | No. 2020-10 | April
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Scott A. Brave, Charles Gascon, William Kluender, Thomas Walstrum | 2019 | No. 2019-11
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Scott A. Brave, R. Andrew Butters, Alejandro Justiniano | 2016 | No. 2016-05
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Scott A. Brave, Jeffrey R. Campbell, Jonas D. M. Fisher, Alejandro Justiniano | 2012 | No. 2012-02 | August
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Scott A. Brave, Hesna Genay | 2011 | No. 2011-04 | May
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Scott A. Brave, R. Andrew Butters | 2010 | No. 2010-07 | January
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Selected External Publications
Acceptances in Academic Journals and Books
Bognar, Levi, Scott A. Brave, R. Andrew Butters, and Kevin A. Roberts, 2024, “Competitive balance in professional sports: A multi-dimensional perspective,” Sports Economics Review, Vol. 6, 100034, June. 20240601050000
Aaronson, Daniel, Scott A. Brave, Andrew Butters, Michael Fogarty, Daniel Sacks, and Boyoung Seo, 2022, “Forecasting unemployment insurance claims in real time with Google Trends,” International Journal of Forecasting, Vol. 38, No. 2, April–June, pp. 567–581. 20220401050000
Brave, Scott A., Andrew Butters, and David Kelley, 2022, “A practitioner’s guide and MATLAB toolbox for mixed frequency state space models,” Journal of Statistical Software, Vol. 104, No. 10, October, pp. 1–40, (accepted June 13, 2020). 20221001050000
Brave, Scott A., Andrew Butters, and Michael Fogarty, 2022, “The perils of working with big data and a SMALL checklist you can use to recognize them,” Business Horizons, Vol. 65, No. 4, July–August, pp. 481–492. 20220701050000
Brave, Scott A., Charles Gascon, William Kluender, and Thomas Walstrum, 2021, “Predicting benchmarked US state employment data in real time,” International Journal of Forecasting, Vol. 37, No. 3, July–September, pp. 1261–1275. 20210701050000
Aaronson, Daniel, Scott A. Brave, Andrew Butters, and Daniel Sacks, 2020, “Using the eye of the storm to predict the wave of Covid-19 UI claims,” Covid Economics: Vetted and Real-Time Papers, Vol. 1, No. 9, April, pp. 59–76, (accepted April 18, 2020). 20200401050000
Brave, Scott A., Jeremy Kronick, and Jose A. Lopez, 2020, “Calibrating macroprudential policies for the Canadian mortgage market,” C. D. Howe Institute Commentary, No. 570, April, (accepted April 1, 2020). 20200401050000
Brave, Scott A., and Rick Mattoon, 2020, “Explaining urban economic growth through cluster complementarity,” Growth and Change: A Journal of Urban and Regional Policy, Vol. 51, No. 1, March, pp. 4–33. 20200301060000
Brave, Scott A., and Jose A. Lopez, 2019, “Calibrating macroprudential policy to forecasts of financial stability,” International Journal of Central Banking, Vol. 15, No. 1, March, pp. 3–59, (accepted October 19, 2018). 20190301060000
Brave, Scott A., and Kevin A. Roberts, 2019, “The competitive effects of performance enhancing drugs: MLB in the post-testing era,” Journal of Sports Economics, Vol. 20, No. 6, August, (accepted October 31, 2018). 20190801050000
Brave, Scott A., Andrew Butters, and Alejandro Justiniano, 2019, “Forecasting economic activity with mixed frequency BVARs,” International Journal of Forecasting, Vol. 35, No. 4, October–December, pp. 1692–1707. 20191001050000
Brave, Scott A., Andrew Butters, and Kevin A. Roberts, 2019, “Uncovering the sources of team synergy: Player complementarities in the production of wins,” Journal of Sports Analytics, Vol. 5, No. 4, December, pp. 247–279. 20191201060000
Presentations and Other Resources
Chicago Fed Letter No. 376
Chicago Fed Letter No. 311
Slides presented during the 2021 NABE-TEC Conference
Slides presented during the NABE Economic Measurement Seminar: Federal Reserve District Research and Surveys
