Can we improve the perceived quality of economic forecasts?

  • Authors:
  • Clive W. J. Granger

  • Affiliations:
  • Department of Economics, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA

  • Venue:
  • Essays in econometrics
  • Year:
  • 2001

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Abstract

A number of topics are discussed concerning how economic forecasts can be improved in quality or at least in presentation. These include the following: using 50% uncertainty intervals rather than 95 %; noting that even though forecasters use many different techniques, they are all occasionally incorrect in the same direction; that there is a tendency to underestimate changes; that some expectations and recently available data are used insufficiently; lagged forecasts errors can help compensate for structural breaks; series that are more forecastable could be emphasized and that present methods of evaluating forecasts do not capture the useful properties of some methods compared to alternatives.