We construct risks around consensus forecasts of real GDP growth, unemployment, and inflation. We find that risks are time-varying, asymmetric, and partly predictable. Tight financial conditions forecast downside growth risk, upside unemployment risk, and increased uncertainty around the...

This paper provides a detailed assessment of the real-time forecast accuracy of a wide range of vector autoregressive models (VAR) that allow for both structural change and indicators sampled at different frequencies. We extend the literature by evaluating a mixed-frequency time-varying...

In this paper, we consider whether differences in the forecast performance of ECB SPF respondents reflect ability or chance. Although differences in performance metrics sometimes appear substantial, it is challenging to determine whether they reflect ex ante skill or other factors impacting ex...

In dem folgenden Beitrag wird - wie bereits in der Vorwoche (Bardt/Grömling/Kolev, 2020) - ein ausgewählter Teil der (größtenteils) in der 13. Kalenderwoche veröffentlichten Konjunkturstudien zur Corona-Krise aufgeführt. Der Fokus richtet sich auf die Weltwirtschaft und die deutsche...

Wie in den vergangenen beiden Wochen (siehe Bardt/Grömling/Kolev, 2020a und 2020b) liefert das Institut der deutschen Wirtschaft wieder eine kurze Übersicht über einen Teil der vorwiegend in der vorhergehenden Woche veröffentlichten Konjunkturnachrichten. In gewohnter Weise richtet sich der...

The ongoing corona pandemic is causing a major shock to the global economy. In the coming months, many countries are expected to suffer severe economic downturns. Sealing off entire regions disrupts supply chains, resulting in production losses and falls in consumption. The global economy is...

In contrast with the "missing micro-foundations" argument against Keynes's macroeconomics, the paper argues that it is the present state of microeconomics that needs more solid "Keynesian foundations". It is in particular Keynes's understanding of investors' behaviour that can be fruitfully...

Professional forecasters can rely on an econometric model to create their forecasts. It is usually unknown to what extent they adjust an econometric model-based forecast. In this paper we show, while making just two simple assumptions, that it is possible to estimate the persistence and variance...

Im folgenden Beitrag wird ein Teil der aktuellen Konjunkturstudien zur Corona-Krise kurz aufgelistet und kommentiert. Der Fokus richtet sich zum einen auf die Weltwirtschaft und zum anderen auf die deutsche Wirtschaft. Die Sichtung der Studien wurde am 23. März 2020 abgeschlossen.

The spread of the coronavirus will have a considerable impact on the German economy. The economy will be hit in a situation in which it was just about to regain footing after the downturn of the past year. Recently, signs have been increasing that industrial production is finding its bottom and...

Die COVID-19-Pandemie führt weltweit zu einem starken Konjunktureinbruch. Die vom Bundesrat Mitte März verordneten Massnahmen zur Eindämmung der Ansteckungen mit dem Sars-Cov-2-Virus haben die wirtschaftliche Aktivität in der Schweiz weiter eingeschränkt. Inzwischen ist die Ansteckungsrate...

We provide a simple exercise for the real growth rate of GDP in 2020 in Portugal, with three alternative scenarios: pessimistic, baseline, and optimistic, with the range for real growth between -5.8% and -3.9%. Of particular relevance is private consumption and investment, with households...

We analyse the performance of financial market variables in nowcasting Finnish quarterly GDP growth. Especially, we assess if prediction accuracy is affected by the sampling frequency of the financial variables. Therefore, we apply MIDAS models that allow us to forecast quarterly GDP growth...

We test and report on time series modelling and forecasting using several US. Leading economic indicators (LEI) as an input to forecasting real US. GDP and the unemployment rate. These time series have been addressed before, but our results are more statistically significant using more recently...

Konjunkturprognosen unterliegen derzeit einer ungewöhnlich hohen Unsicherheit. Jeden Tag werden neue Massnahmen zur Bekämpfung der Corona-Pandemie angekündigt. Es herrscht nicht nur Unklarheit über die aktuelle und künftige Ausbreitung des Virus, sondern auch über staatliche...

Seit dem Winter hat sich das Sars-Cov-2-Virus überall in der Welt verbreitet. Die Regionen sind zwar unterschiedlich betroffen, aber es gibt kaum ein Land ohne Covid-19-Erkrankungen. Wegen des intensiven weltweiten Austauschs von Personen und Waren sowie der Nähe zu Italien, war die Schweiz...

Pessimism related to the outbreak of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 and its development in 2020 determines the experts’ predictions for the second and third quarter of 2020. The pessimistic outlook can be inferred from the downward revisions of the experts’ forecasts. More downward revisions...

The paper derives a test for equal predictability of multi-step-ahead system forecasts that is invariant to linear transformations. The test is a multivariate version of the Diebold-Mariano test. An invariant metric for multi-step-ahead system forecasts is necessary as the conclusions otherwise...

Die konjunkturelle Entwicklung dieses Jahres ist von dem Einbruch der gesamtwirtschaftlichen Leistung ab dem März geprägt. Nach der ersten Schätzung des Statistischen Bundesamtes ist das BIP im ersten Vierteljahr um 2,2, Prozent gegenüber dem Vorquartal geschrumpft, während für das zweite...

A new causal simulation model of economic development was created, which comprehensively in detail and fully reflects various types of legal and shadow economic activities and their interrelations. The model is used to forecast the whole (legal and shadow) country' s economy up to 2022. The...

The paper outlines a structural macroeconometric model for the economy of Russia. The aim of the research is to analyze how the domestic economy functions, generate forecasts for important macroeconomic indicators and evaluate the responses of main endogenous variables to various shocks. The...

Die Corona-Pandemie hat infolge der gesundheitspolitischen Maßnahmen und der vielfältigen Auswirkungen auf die Angebots- und Nachfrageseite der rund um den Globus betroffenen Volkswirtschaften das weltweite Wirtschaftsleben im zweiten Quartal 2020 so stark beeinträchtigt, wie kein Ereignis...

The COVID-19 crisis is having immediate effects on councils' budgets as a result of increases in spending on local services and reductions in income from sales, fees and charges (SFCs) and commercial activities. However, the crisis will cast a longer shadow on councils' finances. First,...

Does the yield curve's ability to predict future output and recessions differ when interest rates are low, as in the current global environment? In this paper we build on recent econometric work by Shi, Phillips, and Hurn that detects changes in the causal impact of the yield curve and relate...

In contrast with the "missing micro-foundations" argument against Keynes’s macro­economics, the paper argues that it is the present state of microeconomics that needs more solid "Keynesian foundations". It is in particular Keynes’s understanding of investors’ behaviour that can be...

The coronavirus recession has left deep marks on the German economy and despite economic policy action, it is likely to heal only slowly. The partial easing of the lockdown and a gradual revival of global value chains are generating positive stimuli, but massive income losses will curb demand...

We propose a simple model of expectation formation with three distinct deviations from fully rational expectations. In particular, forecasters' expectations are sticky, extrapolate the most recent news about the current period, and depend on the lagged consensus forecast about the period being...