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A More Timely and Useful Index of Leading Indicators

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Author Info

  • McGuckin, Robert H.
  • Ozyildirim, Ataman
  • Zarnowitz, Victor

Abstract

Effectively predicting cyclical movements in the economy is a major challenge. While there are other approaches to forecasting, the U.S. leading index has long been used to analyze and predict economic fluctuations. We describe and test a new procedure for making the index more timely. The new index significantly outperforms its less timely counterpart and offers substantial gains in real-time out-of-sample forecasts of changes in aggregate economic activity and industrial production. It provides timely and accurate ex-ante information for predicting, not only the business cycle turning points, but the monthly changes in the economy.

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Bibliographic Info

Article provided by American Statistical Association in its journal Journal of Business and Economic Statistics.

Volume (Year): 25 (2007)
Issue (Month): (January)
Pages: 110-120

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Handle: RePEc:bes:jnlbes:v:25:y:2007:p:110-120

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References

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  1. Gerhard Bry & Charlotte Boschan, 1971. "Cyclical Analysis of Time Series: Selected Procedures and Computer Programs," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number bry_71-1, August.
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Cited by:
  1. Bouwman, Kees E. & Jacobs, Jan P.A.M., 2005. "Forecasting with real-time macroeconomic data: the ragged-edge problem and revisions," CCSO Working Papers 200505, University of Groningen, CCSO Centre for Economic Research.
  2. Robert H. McGuckin & Ataman Ozyildirim, 2003. "Real-Time Tests of the Leading Economic Index: Do Changes in the Index Composition Matter?," Economics Program Working Papers 03-04, The Conference Board, Economics Program.
  3. Henk C. Kranendonk & Jan Bonenkamp & Johan P. Verbruggen, 2004. "A Leading Indicator for the Dutch Economy – Methodological and Empirical Revision of the CPB System," CESifo Working Paper Series 1200, CESifo Group Munich.
  4. S. Boragan Aruoba & Francis X. Diebold & Chiara Scotti, 2008. "Real-time measurement of business conditions," Working Papers 08-19, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia.
  5. Heij, Christiaan & van Dijk, Dick & Groenen, Patrick J.F., 2011. "Real-time macroeconomic forecasting with leading indicators: An empirical comparison," International Journal of Forecasting, Elsevier, vol. 27(2), pages 466-481.
  6. Henk Kranendonk & Jan Bonenkamp & Johan Verbruggen, 2004. "A leading indicator for the Dutch economy; methodological and empirical revision of the CPB system," CPB Discussion Paper 32, CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis.
  7. Heij, C., 2007. "Improved forecasting with leading indicators: the principal covariate index," Econometric Institute Report EI 2007-23, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Econometric Institute.

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