Forecasting regional house price inflation: a comparison between dynamic factor models and vector autoregressive models

This paper uses the dynamic factor model framework, which accommodates a large cross‐section of macroeconomic time series, for forecasting regional house price inflation. In this study, we forecast house price inflation for five metropolitan areas of South Africa using principal components obtained from 282 quarterly macroeconomic time series in the period 1980:1 to 2006:4. The results, based on the root mean square errors of one to four quarters ahead out‐of‐sample forecasts over the period 2001:1 to 2006:4 indicate that, in the majority of the cases, the Dynamic Factor Model statistically outperforms the vector autoregressive models, using both the classical and the Bayesian treatments. We also consider spatial and non‐spatial specifications. Our results indicate that macroeconomic fundamentals in forecasting house price inflation are important. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Heterogeneous Forecast Adjustment

There is ample empirical evidence that expert‐adjusted model forecasts can be improved. One way to potential improvement concerns providing various forms of feedback to the sales forecasters. It is also often recognized that the experts (forecasters) might not constitute a homogeneous group. This paper provides a data‐based methodology to discern latent clusters of forecasters, and applies it to a fully new large database with data on expert‐adjusted forecasts, model forecasts and realizations. For the data at hand, two clusters can clearly be identified. Next, the consequences of having clusters are discussed. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Forecasting Ability of a Periodic Component Extracted from Large‐Cap Index Time Series

We develop a method to extract periodic variations in a time series that are hidden in large non‐periodic and stochastic variations. This method relies on folding the time series many times and allows direct visualization of a hidden periodic component without resorting to any fitting procedure. Applying this method to several large‐cap stock time series in Europe, Japan and the USA yields a component with periodicity of 1 year. Out‐of‐sample tests on these large‐cap time series indicate that this periodic component is able to forecast long‐term (decade) behavior for large‐cap time series. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Overreaction in Survey Exchange Rate Forecasts

We use survey data on five bilateral exchange rates to provide empirical evidence of the fact that professional forecasters of foreign exchange rates behave irrationally, in the specific sense that they respond inaccurately to available information in the market when forming their predictions. In particular, we find systematic biases in the forecasts resulting in the overreaction of analysts to past information contained in the exchange rate dynamics: forecasters change their prediction more than it would be rational on the basis of past realized changes. In addition, forecasters are heterogeneous in their irrationality: low performers in previous periods show a more pronounced overreaction effect. This can be read as an indication of perpetration of past errors and continued inability to learn from the past. In the second part of the paper, we exploit the novel structure of our dataset, which consists of survey data extracted from the Bloomberg platform and readily available to anyone. This feature allows us to consider their own and others' past forecasts as part of the information set that analysts use in making their predictions. By using past forecasts as proxies for relevant macroeconomic variables, we find evidence that analysts fail to correctly process not only the information contained in the spot rate past dynamics but also the information in this broader set. We see this as confirmation of the existence of inefficiency and heterogeneity between low and high performers also when full information is available. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

How Informative are the Subjective Density Forecasts of Macroeconomists?

In this paper, we propose a framework to evaluate the subjective density forecasts of macroeconomists using micro data from the euro area Survey of Professional Forecasters (SPF). A key aspect of our analysis is the use of evaluation measures which take account of the entire predictive densities, and not just the probability assigned to the outcome that occurs. Overall, we find considerable heterogeneity in the performance of the surveyed densities at the individual level. However, it is hard to exploit this heterogeneity and improve aggregate performance by trimming poorly performing forecasters in real time. Relative to a set of simple benchmarks, density performance is somewhat better for GDP growth than for inflation, although in the former case it diminishes substantially with the forecast horizon. In addition, we report evidence of an improvement in the relative performance of expert densities during the recent period of macroeconomic volatility. However, our analysis also reveals clear evidence of overconfidence or neglected risks in expert probability assessments, as reflected in frequent occurrences of events which are assigned a zero probability. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

月径流序列的多层递阶预报研究

月径流序列是一类具有周期变化的非平稳时间序列．本文根据其特点,建立了多层递阶预报模型,文中对此类非平稳时间序列的建模及预报方法进行了深入研究     

有关DEA模型$(C^2GS^2)$的最优值的定理及其在预测方法简化中的应用

文献［１］中在将初始点选在生产可能集内的基础上用弱ＤＥＡ 有效性$(C^2GS^2)$进行预测,但有时难于在生产可能集内选取初始点,因此本文在给出一些有关ＤＥＡ 模型$(C^2GS^2)$的最优值的定理的基础上设法省略该步骤．对任给的有正输入与正输出的初始点,不必检验它是否在生产可能集内,只要ＤＥＡ 模型的最优值存在且为正,就可用弱ＤＥＡ 有效性$(C^2GS^2)$ 进行预测     

灰色GM(2)模型

对灰色建模的机理及缺陷进行了讨论及分析． 对于变化幅度较大的序列, 建立了新的预测模型, 为实际应用提供了切实可行的方法．     

基于自适应神经网络的边坡位移预测

通过对边坡位移历史数据序列进行特征分析 ,计算出饱和嵌入维数和最大 Lyapunov指数 ,给出了边坡位移的最大可预报时间尺度。在此基础上 ,确定了神经网络的输入节点数 ,建立了基于自适应神经网络的边坡位移预报方法 .通过对三峡升船机高边坡和新滩滑坡实际位移数据进行预测 ,结果令人满意 .这对于建立边坡位移的实时监测 -预警系统有重要意义.     

高斯白噪声背景下机动目标未来运动状态的一步实时预报与滤波

对高斯白噪声背景下机动目标的运动共性进行了研究,绕过了建立系统加速度模型的麻烦,得到了未来运动趋势的一步实时预报模型,并具有很好的实时性.文章中还给出了算例与仿真计算结果.