IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jjrfmx/v18y2025i2p60-d1579096.html

Forecasting Follies: Machine Learning from Human Errors

Author

Listed:
  • Li Sun

    (Department of Business Analytics & Technology Management, Towson University, 8000 York Road, Towson, MD 21252, USA)

  • Yongchen Zhao

    (Department of Economics, Towson University, Towson, MD 21252, USA)

Abstract

Reliable inflation forecasts are essential for both business operations and macroeconomic policy making. This study explores the potential of using machine learning (ML) techniques to improve the accuracy of human forecasts of inflation. Specifically, we develop and examine ML-centered forecast adjustment procedures where advanced ML techniques are employed to predict and thus mitigate the errors of human forecasts, akin to how an AI-powered spell and grammar checker helps to prevent mistakes in human writing. Our empirical exercises demonstrate the benefits of several popular ML techniques, such as the elastic net, LASSO, and ridge regressions, and provide evidence of their ability to improve both our own benchmark inflation forecasts and those reported by the frequent participants in the US Survey of Professional Forecasters. The forecast adjustment procedures proposed in this paper are conceptually appealing, widely applicable, and empirically effective in reducing forecast bias and improving forecast accuracy.

Suggested Citation

  • Li Sun & Yongchen Zhao, 2025. "Forecasting Follies: Machine Learning from Human Errors," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 18(2), pages 1-25, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jjrfmx:v:18:y:2025:i:2:p:60-:d:1579096
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1911-8074/18/2/60/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1911-8074/18/2/60/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Medeiros, Marcelo C. & Vasconcelos, Gabriel F.R., 2016. "Forecasting macroeconomic variables in data-rich environments," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 138(C), pages 50-52.
    2. Michael P. Clements, 2022. "Forecaster Efficiency, Accuracy, and Disagreement: Evidence Using Individual‐Level Survey Data," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 54(2-3), pages 537-568, March.
    3. Lu, Fei & Zeng, Qing & Bouri, Elie & Tao, Ying, 2024. "Forecasting US GDP growth rates in a rich environment of macroeconomic data," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 95(C).
    4. Dean Croushore & Tom Stark, 2019. "Fifty Years of the Survey of Professional Forecasters," Economic Insights, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, vol. 4(4), pages 1-11, October.
    5. Casarin, Roberto & Costola, Michele, 2019. "Structural changes in large economic datasets: A nonparametric homogeneity test," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 176(C), pages 55-59.
    6. Harvey, David & Leybourne, Stephen & Newbold, Paul, 1997. "Testing the equality of prediction mean squared errors," International Journal of Forecasting, Elsevier, vol. 13(2), pages 281-291, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Croushore, Dean, 2025. "Can you improve upon the GDP forecasts of professional forecasters using information about monetary policy?," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    2. Clements, Michael P. & Rich, Robert W. & Tracy, Joseph, 2025. "An Investigation into the Uncertainty Revision Process of Professional Forecasters," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 173(C).
    3. Ricardo P. Masini & Marcelo C. Medeiros & Eduardo F. Mendes, 2023. "Machine learning advances for time series forecasting," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(1), pages 76-111, February.
    4. Kelly Burns & Imad Moosa, 2017. "Demystifying the Meese–Rogoff puzzle: structural breaks or measures of forecasting accuracy?," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 49(48), pages 4897-4910, October.
    5. Carlo Altavilla & Paul De Grauwe, 2010. "Forecasting and combining competing models of exchange rate determination," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 42(27), pages 3455-3480.
    6. Alberto Fuertes & Simón Sosvilla-Rivero, 2019. "“Forecasting emerging market currencies: Are inflation expectations useful?”," IREA Working Papers 201918, University of Barcelona, Research Institute of Applied Economics, revised Oct 2019.
    7. Xiaojie Xu, 2017. "The rolling causal structure between the Chinese stock index and futures," Financial Markets and Portfolio Management, Springer;Swiss Society for Financial Market Research, vol. 31(4), pages 491-509, November.
    8. Daniel Buncic, 2012. "Understanding forecast failure of ESTAR models of real exchange rates," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 43(1), pages 399-426, August.
    9. repec:rim:rimwps:18-20 is not listed on IDEAS
    10. Scott Brave & R. Andrew Butters & Alejandro Justiniano, 2016. "Forecasting Economic Activity with Mixed Frequency Bayesian VARs," Working Paper Series WP-2016-5, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago.
    11. Keen Meng Choy & Hwee Kwan Chow, 2004. "Forecasting the Global Electronics Cycle with Leading Indicators: A VAR Approach," Econometric Society 2004 Australasian Meetings 223, Econometric Society.
    12. Ard H.J. den Reijer, 2005. "Forecasting Dutch GDP using Large Scale Factor Models," DNB Working Papers 028, Netherlands Central Bank, Research Department.
    13. Lin Wang & Lean Yu & Wuyue An, 2025. "Two‐Stream Reinforcement Ensemble Framework for Agricultural Commodity Prices Forecasting Using Textual Data," Journal of Forecasting, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 44(8), pages 2386-2404, December.
    14. Andrea Carriero & Todd E. Clark & Massimiliano Marcellino, 2015. "Realtime nowcasting with a Bayesian mixed frequency model with stochastic volatility," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 178(4), pages 837-862, October.
    15. Chuliá, Helena & Garrón, Ignacio & Uribe, Jorge M., 2024. "Daily growth at risk: Financial or real drivers? The answer is not always the same," International Journal of Forecasting, Elsevier, vol. 40(2), pages 762-776.
    16. Mehmet Balcilar & Rangan Gupta & Stephen M. Miller, 2015. "The out-of-sample forecasting performance of nonlinear models of regional housing prices in the US," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 47(22), pages 2259-2277, May.
    17. Aastveit, Knut Are & Trovik, Tørres, 2014. "Estimating the output gap in real time: A factor model approach," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 54(2), pages 180-193.
    18. Jonathan Berrisch & Florian Ziel, 2023. "Multivariate Probabilistic CRPS Learning with an Application to Day-Ahead Electricity Prices," Papers 2303.10019, arXiv.org, revised Feb 2024.
    19. Dima, Bogdan & Dima, Ştefana Maria & Ioan, Roxana, 2025. "The short-run impact of investor expectations’ past volatility on current predictions: The case of VIX," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 98(C).
    20. Johanna Posch & Fabio Rumler, 2015. "Semi‐Structural Forecasting of UK Inflation Based on the Hybrid New Keynesian Phillips Curve," Journal of Forecasting, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 34(2), pages 145-162, March.
    21. Takami, Marcelo Yoshio & Tabak, Benjamin Miranda, 2008. "Interest rate option pricing and volatility forecasting: An application to Brazil," Chaos, Solitons & Fractals, Elsevier, vol. 38(3), pages 755-763.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jjrfmx:v:18:y:2025:i:2:p:60-:d:1579096. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.