< The 2015 All-America Research Team

Total appearances: 16

Team debut: 1999

Krishna Guha shepherds his Evercore ISI team in Washington to third place, down one rung since last year. A former economics writer and onetime head of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s communications group, Guha is winning adherents after only a couple of years as an analyst. “He’s just terrific, very knowledgeable,” says one West Coast portfolio manager. “He’s smart, he knows his stuff, he is excellent on the Fed, and he explains things well.” Among the ideas the three-strong squad is most strongly advancing is their belief that President Obama and the Republican Congress will collaborate to produce a “growth agenda,” reports Guha, 42. “We’re doubling down on our early call that a Congress-Obama partnership on five major economic growth issues is taking shape.” To wit, by the end of this year, the researchers contend, the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade treaty should be ratified and a mutual desire for long-term transportation and highway funding is driving serious work toward repatriation and international tax reform should produce results. Further, a fresh debt-ceiling deal as well as a “new spending accord” will likely be reached in the fall, the crew chief adds, while energy policy reform, including a repeal of the oil export ban, is apt to follow early next year. “If these initiatives succeed, expect positive 2016 economic benefits — a welcome shift from overreliance on monetary policy alone to support the expansion,” an optimistic Guha declares.