In this paper we examine the quality of the initial estimates of headline GDP and 10 major components of both real and nominal U.S. GDP. We ask a number of questions about various characteristics of the differences between the initial estimates, available one month after the end of the quarter,...

This paper analyses the real GDP growth and inflation forecasts prepared by the International Monetary Fund, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, and the private forecasters between 1999 and 2010. The empirical results show that the long-term growth forecasts were inferior...

In this paper we present a multivariate analysis of the Federal Reserve’s forecasts. First, we use existing univariate methods to evaluate each of the Fed’s forecasts of the ten major expenditure categories of real GDP which have not previously been evaluated in the literature. Second, we...

We show that systematic forecast errors reveal that the Fed is "surprised" by real and inflationary cycles. The Fed knows the state of the economy for the current quarter, but cannot predict it one-quarter ahead.

Recruiting competent personnel is crucial for the success of any organization, and especially in competitive sports, where the success of a team depends upon the quality of the players selected. This paper examines whether football executives are able to forecast who the most successful...

A large amount of effort is spent on forecasting the outcomes of sporting events, but few papers have focused exclusively on the characteristics of sports forecasts. Instead, many papers have been written about the efficiency of sports betting markets. As it turns out, it is possible to derive a...