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Improving GDP Measurement: A Forecast Combination Perspective

Author

Listed:
  • S. Boragan Aruoba
  • Francis X. Diebold
  • Jeremy Nalewaik
  • Frank Schorfheide
  • Dongho Song

Abstract

Two often-divergent U.S. GDP estimates are available, a widely-used expenditure side version, GDPE, and a much less widely-used income-side version GDPI . We propose and explore a "forecast combination" approach to combining them. We then put the theory to work, producing a superior combined estimate of GDP growth for the U.S., GDPC. We compare GDPC to GDPE and GDPI , with particular attention to behavior over the business cycle. We discuss several variations and extensions.

Suggested Citation

  • S. Boragan Aruoba & Francis X. Diebold & Jeremy Nalewaik & Frank Schorfheide & Dongho Song, 2011. "Improving GDP Measurement: A Forecast Combination Perspective," NBER Working Papers 17421, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:17421
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. S. Boragan Aruoba & Francis X. Diebold, 2010. "Real-Time Macroeconomic Monitoring: Real Activity, Inflation, and Interactions," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 100(2), pages 20-24, May.
    2. Aruoba, S. Borağan & Diebold, Francis X. & Nalewaik, Jeremy & Schorfheide, Frank & Song, Dongho, 2016. "Improving GDP measurement: A measurement-error perspective," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 191(2), pages 384-397.
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    As found by EconAcademics.org, the blog aggregator for Economics research:
    1. Better GDP estimates
      by Economic Logician in Economic Logic on 2011-10-12 19:28:00

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    Cited by:

    1. Jeremy J. Nalewaik, 2014. "Missing Variation in the Great Moderation: Lack of Signal Error and OLS Regression," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 2014-27, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    2. Tomaz Cajner & Leland D. Crane & Ryan A. Decker & Adrian Hamins-Puertolas & Christopher Kurz, 2019. "Improving the Accuracy of Economic Measurement with Multiple Data Sources: The Case of Payroll Employment Data," NBER Chapters, in: Big Data for Twenty-First-Century Economic Statistics, pages 147-170, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Aruoba, S. Borağan & Diebold, Francis X. & Nalewaik, Jeremy & Schorfheide, Frank & Song, Dongho, 2016. "Improving GDP measurement: A measurement-error perspective," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 191(2), pages 384-397.
    4. Tom Stark, 2014. "Real-time performance of GDPplus and alternative model-based measures of GDP: 2005—2014," Research Rap Special Report, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, issue Nov.
    5. Jeremy J. Nalewaik, 2011. "The Income- and Expenditure-Side Estimates of U.S. Output Growth — An Update to 2011Q2," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 43(2 (Fall)), pages 385-411.
    6. Francis X. Diebold & Minchul Shin, 2017. "Beating the Simple Average: Egalitarian LASSO for Combining Economic Forecasts," PIER Working Paper Archive 17-017, Penn Institute for Economic Research, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania, revised 20 Aug 2017.
    7. Cobb, Marcus P A, 2018. "Improving Underlying Scenarios for Aggregate Forecasts: A Multi-level Combination Approach," MPRA Paper 88593, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    8. James Bishop & Troy Gill & David Lancaster, 2013. "GDP Revisions: Measurement and Implications," RBA Bulletin (Print copy discontinued), Reserve Bank of Australia, pages 11-22, March.
    9. Mary C. Daly & John G. Fernald & Òscar Jordà & Fernanda Nechio, 2013. "Shocks and Adjustments," Working Paper Series 2013-32, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco.
    10. Marius Cristian Acatrinei, 2020. "Financial stability indicator for non-banking markets," Journal of Financial Studies, Institute of Financial Studies, vol. 9(5), pages 3-9, November.
    11. Diebold, Francis X. & Shin, Minchul, 2019. "Machine learning for regularized survey forecast combination: Partially-egalitarian LASSO and its derivatives," International Journal of Forecasting, Elsevier, vol. 35(4), pages 1679-1691.
    12. Jan P.A.M. Jacobs & Samad Sarferaz & Simon van Norden & Jan-Egbert Sturm, 2013. "Modeling Multivariate Data Revisions," CIRANO Working Papers 2013s-44, CIRANO.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • E01 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - General - - - Measurement and Data on National Income and Product Accounts and Wealth; Environmental Accounts
    • E32 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles - - - Business Fluctuations; Cycles

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