AEAweb: Journal Article Full-Text Access
Note to Institutional Subscribers: If you normally access AEAweb journal content via your university or firm's subscription and receive this page, please click
here. The most likely causes of this are a recently changed IP address, a new subscription, or the renewal of a lapsed institutional subscription. This page will stop appearing on the next synchronisation of the document delivery and authentication systems.
You may also click here for pay-per-view, Athens login and other access options .
AEA Members, please click the button below to access the login form:
Elliott, Graham, and
Allan Timmermann. 2008. "Economic Forecasting."
,
46(1): 3-56.
Show Article Details
DOI: 10.1257/jel.46.1.3
Abstract:Forecasts guide decisions in all areas of economics and finance and their value can
only be understood in relation to, and in the context of, such decisions. We discuss
the central role of the loss function in helping determine the forecaster's objectives.
Decision theory provides a framework for both the construction and evaluation of
forecasts. This framework allows an understanding of the challenges that arise from
the explosion in the sheer volume of predictor variables under consideration and the
forecaster's ability to entertain an endless array of forecasting models and time-varying
specifications, none of which may coincide with the "true" model. We show this
along with reviewing methods for comparing the forecasting performance of pairs
of models or evaluating the ability of the best of many models to beat a benchmark
specification.
Authors:
Elliott, Graham (U CA, San Diego)
Timmermann, Allan (U CA, San Diego and CREATES)
JEL Classifications:
C53: Forecasting and Other Model Applications
If you are an AEA member and do not have an AEAweb login, please
click here.
If you would like to become an AEA member, please see our
membership page.
If you arrived at this page via a journal article link, you will be redirected to the pdf after successful login.
If your first login attempt fails, and you have recently signed up for access or have recently changed your password, you may need to wait a few moments and try again.
Please contact us at
notify@aeaweb.org with any problems or questions.
Contents of Current Issues
Spring 2013 JEP
May 2013 AEJ: Policy
May 2013 AEJ: Micro
April 2013 AER
April 2013 AEJ: Macro
April 2013 AEJ: Applied
March 2013 JEL
Virtual Field Journals
In the News:
The Huffington Post reports on a study addressing the influence of lifestyle factors on shrinking height in the elderly published in the April issue of AEJ: Applied Economics.
Michael Frakes' (Cornell Law School) article on medical liability standards from the February issue of the American Economic Review was discussed as part of a Bloomberg opinion piece on medical malpractice.
Slate Magazine recently discussed former AEA president, George Akerlof's classic behavioral research and a 2012 American Economic Review study conducted by German and Swiss researchers to explore how gifting can motivate some employees more than cash incentives do in the workplace.
Contact Us