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Predicting Inflation with Neural Networks

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  • Paranhos, Livia

    (University of Warwick)

Abstract

This paper applies neural network models to forecast inflation. The use of a particular recurrent neural network, the long-short term memory model, or LSTM, that summarizes macroeconomic information into common components is a major contribution of the paper. Results from an exercise with US data indicate that the estimated neural nets usually present better forecasting performance than standard benchmarks, especially at long horizons. The LSTM in particular is found to outperform the traditional feed-forward network at long horizons, suggesting an advantage of the recurrent model in capturing the long-term trend of inflation. This finding can be rationalized by the so called long memory of the LSTM that incorporates relatively old information in the forecast as long as accuracy is improved, while economizing in the number of estimated parameters. Interestingly, the neural nets containing macroeconomic information capture well the features of inflation during and after the Great Recession, possibly indicating a role for nonlinearities and macro information in this episode. The estimated common components used in the forecast seem able to capture the business cycle dynamics, as well as information on prices.

Suggested Citation

  • Paranhos, Livia, 2021. "Predicting Inflation with Neural Networks," The Warwick Economics Research Paper Series (TWERPS) 1344, University of Warwick, Department of Economics.
  • Handle: RePEc:wrk:warwec:1344
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    File URL: https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/economics/research/workingpapers/2021/twerp_1344_-_paranhos.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Philippe Goulet Coulombe, 2022. "A Neural Phillips Curve and a Deep Output Gap," Working Papers 22-01, Chair in macroeconomics and forecasting, University of Quebec in Montreal's School of Management.
    2. Daniel Stempel & Johannes Zahner, 2022. "DSGE Models and Machine Learning: An Application to Monetary Policy in the Euro Area," MAGKS Papers on Economics 202232, Philipps-Universität Marburg, Faculty of Business Administration and Economics, Department of Economics (Volkswirtschaftliche Abteilung).
    3. Jonathan Leslie, 2023. "?Seeing? the Future: Improving Macroeconomic Forecasts with Spatial Data and Recurrent Convolutional Neural Networks," CAEPR Working Papers 2023-003 Classification-C, Center for Applied Economics and Policy Research, Department of Economics, Indiana University Bloomington.
    4. Ba Chu & Shafiullah Qureshi, 2021. "Comparing Out-of-Sample Performance of Machine Learning Methods to Forecast U.S. GDP Growth," Carleton Economic Papers 21-12, Carleton University, Department of Economics.
    5. Simionescu, Mihaela, 2022. "Econometrics of sentiments- sentometrics and machine learning: The improvement of inflation predictions in Romania using sentiment analysis," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 182(C).
    6. Giovanni Ballarin & Petros Dellaportas & Lyudmila Grigoryeva & Marcel Hirt & Sophie van Huellen & Juan-Pablo Ortega, 2022. "Reservoir Computing for Macroeconomic Forecasting with Mixed Frequency Data," Papers 2211.00363, arXiv.org, revised Jan 2024.
    7. Urmat Dzhunkeev, 2022. "Forecasting Unemployment in Russia Using Machine Learning Methods," Russian Journal of Money and Finance, Bank of Russia, vol. 81(1), pages 73-87, March.
    8. Ba Chu & Shafiullah Qureshi, 2023. "Comparing Out-of-Sample Performance of Machine Learning Methods to Forecast U.S. GDP Growth," Computational Economics, Springer;Society for Computational Economics, vol. 62(4), pages 1567-1609, December.
    9. Beck, Günter W. & Carstensen, Kai & Menz, Jan-Oliver & Schnorrenberger, Richard & Wieland, Elisabeth, 2023. "Nowcasting consumer price inflation using high-frequency scanner data: Evidence from Germany," Discussion Papers 34/2023, Deutsche Bundesbank.
    10. Lorenzo Menculini & Andrea Marini & Massimiliano Proietti & Alberto Garinei & Alessio Bozza & Cecilia Moretti & Marcello Marconi, 2021. "Comparing Prophet and Deep Learning to ARIMA in Forecasting Wholesale Food Prices," Forecasting, MDPI, vol. 3(3), pages 1-19, September.
    11. Philippe Goulet Coulombe, 2022. "A Neural Phillips Curve and a Deep Output Gap," Papers 2202.04146, arXiv.org.

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    Keywords

    forecasting ; inflation ; neural networks ; deep learning ; LSTM model;
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