A linear benchmark for forecasting GDP growth and inflation?

Predicting the future evolution of GDP growth and inflation is a central concern in economics. Forecasts are typically produced either from economic theory‐based models or from simple linear time series models. While a time series model can provide a reasonable benchmark to evaluate the value added of economic theory relative to the pure explanatory power of the past behavior of the variable, recent developments in time series analysis suggest that more sophisticated time series models could provide more serious benchmarks for economic models. In this paper we evaluate whether these complicated time series models can outperform standard linear models for forecasting GDP growth and inflation. We consider a large variety of models and evaluation criteria, using a bootstrap algorithm to evaluate the statistical significance of our results. Our main conclusion is that in general linear time series models can hardly be beaten if they are carefully specified. However, we also identify some important cases where the adoption of a more complicated benchmark can alter the conclusions of economic analyses about the driving forces of GDP growth and inflation. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Forecasting with latent structure time series models: an application to nominal interest rates

In this paper we develop a latent structure extension of a commonly used structural time series model and use the model as a basis for forecasting. Each unobserved regime has its own unique slope and variances to describe the process generating the data, and at any given time period the model predicts a priori which regime best characterizes the data. This is accomplished by using a multinomial logit model in which the primary explanatory variable is a measure of how consistent each regime has been with recent observations. The model is especially well suited to forecasting series which are subject to frequent and/or major shocks. An application to nominal interest rates shows that the behaviour of the three‐month US Treasury bill rate is adequately explained by three regimes. The forecasting accuracy is superior to that produced by a traditional single‐regime model and a standard ARIMA model with a conditionally heteroscedastic error. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Predicting Stock Return Volatility: Can We Benefit from Regression Models for Return Intervals?

We study the performance of recently developed linear regression models for interval data when it comes to forecasting the uncertainty surrounding future stock returns. These interval data models use easy‐to‐compute daily return intervals during the modeling, estimation and forecasting stage. They have to stand up to comparable point‐data models of the well‐known capital asset pricing model type—which employ single daily returns based on successive closing prices and might allow for GARCH effects—in a comprehensive out‐of‐sample forecasting competition. The latter comprises roughly 1000 daily observations on all 30 stocks that constitute the DAX, Germany's main stock index, for a period covering both the calm market phase before and the more turbulent times during the recent financial crisis. The interval data models clearly outperform simple random walk benchmarks as well as the point‐data competitors in the great majority of cases. This result does not only hold when one‐day‐ahead forecasts of the conditional variance are considered, but is even more evident when the focus is on forecasting the width or the exact location of the next day's return interval. Regression models based on interval arithmetic thus prove to be a promising alternative to established point‐data volatility forecasting tools. Copyright ©2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Forecasting ski demand: comparing learning curve and varying parameter coefficient approaches

Demand for skiing expanded rapidly in the 1980s, fell quite dramatically at the start of the 1990s as the economy declined but has not subsequently recovered. Two possible explanations are explored. The first is based on perceiving skiing as a new product to most consumers, which reached maximum growth in 1989. Current levels now largely represent ‘repeat buyers’. The alternative approach sees the growth as the result of economic factors, particularly credit conditions. The importance of these factors was not, however, constant, and grew with the changes in the financial system. Thus the recovery had a muted effect. These two approaches are modelled, estimated and the results compared by both residual and ex post forecasting analysis. The paper concludes that the varying coefficient econometric model probably produces the most reliable forecasts. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.