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State-dependent biases and the quality of China’s preliminary GDP announcements

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  • Lixiong Yang

    (Lanzhou University)

Abstract

This paper investigates whether and how the systematic forecast errors of the quarterly GDP announcements in China depend on the state of the economy. Our contribution is both theoretical and empirical. On the theoretical side, we extend the predictive threshold regression of Gonzalo and Pitarakis (J Bus Econ Stat 35:202–217, 2017) by incorporating a time-varying and state-dependent threshold, which is a function of macroeconomic variables that affect the separation of regimes. On the empirical side, we apply our model to assess the quality of China’s preliminary GDP data. Our empirical results show that there exist forecast biases in the preliminary GDP data conditional on the state of the economy. Our results also lean toward supporting that there exist behavioral biases of underestimation and over-reaction to new information during periods of relatively good state. These results suggest some scope to improve the accuracy of the preliminary GDP data based purely on econometric models.

Suggested Citation

  • Lixiong Yang, 2020. "State-dependent biases and the quality of China’s preliminary GDP announcements," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 59(6), pages 2663-2687, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:empeco:v:59:y:2020:i:6:d:10.1007_s00181-019-01751-z
    DOI: 10.1007/s00181-019-01751-z
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    Cited by:

    1. Lixiong Yang, 2022. "Threshold mixed data sampling (TMIDAS) regression models with an application to GDP forecast errors," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 62(2), pages 533-551, February.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    China’s preliminary GDP data; Forecast errors; Over-reaction; Time-varying threshold; State of the economy;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C22 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Time-Series Models; Dynamic Quantile Regressions; Dynamic Treatment Effect Models; Diffusion Processes
    • C51 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric Modeling - - - Model Construction and Estimation
    • C53 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric Modeling - - - Forecasting and Prediction Models; Simulation Methods
    • C82 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Data Collection and Data Estimation Methodology; Computer Programs - - - Methodology for Collecting, Estimating, and Organizing Macroeconomic Data; Data Access

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