It can be shown that inflation expectations and associated forecast errors are characterized by a high degree of persistence. One reason may be that forecasters cannot directly observe the inflation target pursued by the central bank and, hence, face a complicated forecasting problem. In particular, they have to infer whether the observed movement ofthe inflation rate is due to a permanent change of policy parameters or whether it is the result of a transient shock. Consequently, it is assumed that agents behave like econometricians who filter noisy information by estimating an unobserved components model. This constitutes the trend learning algorithm employed by the forecaster. To examine whether this is a valid assumption, I fit a simple learning model to US survey expectations. The second part contains an out-of-sample forecasting experiment which shows that learning by signal extraction matches survey measures closer than other standard models. Moreover, it turns out that a weighted average of different expectation formation processes with a prominent role for signal extraction behaviour is well suited to explain survey measures of inflation expectations.
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Paper provided by Ifo Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich in its series Ifo Working Paper Series with number
Ifo Working Paper No. 55.
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Find related papers by JEL classification: C32 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Multiple or Simultaneous Equation Models; Multiple Variables - - - Time-Series Models; Dynamic Quantile Regressions C53 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric Modeling - - - Forecasting and Other Model Applications E31 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles - - - Price Level; Inflation; Deflation E37 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles - - - Forecasting and Simulation
References listed on IDEAS Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
David Andolfatto & Paul Gomme, 2003.
"Monetary Policy Regimes and Beliefs,"
International Economic Review,
Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 44(1), pages 1-30, February.
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