Anticipating events, circumstances, problems. Similar to ahead of the pack, it may apply to knowing beforehand what election polls will indicate, or what the stock market will do. Philip Delves Broughton used it in the title of his book, Ahead of the Curve: Two Years at Harvard Business School (2008). See also behind the curve.

Slow to react to changing conditions. Criticizing the Obama administration’s plans to stimulate the economy as too modest, the economist Paul Krugman wrote, “. . . the plan was too small and too cautious. The latest data . . . suggest that the Obama administration’s economic policies are already falling behind the curve” (New York Times, March 8, 2009). See also ahead of the curve.