We characterise the relationships between preliminary and subsequent measurements for 16 commonly-used UK macroeconomic indicators drawn from two existing real-time data sets and a new nominal variable database. Most preliminary measurements are biased predictors of subsequent measurements, with...

There is by now a large literature characterizing conditions under which learning schemes converge to rational expectations equilibria (REEs). A number of authors have claimed that these results are dependent on the assumption of homogeneous agents and homogeneous learning. We study the local...

In this paper, using recent empirical results regarding the statistical properties of macroeconomic data revisions, we study the effects of data revisions in a general equilibrium framework. We find that the presence of data revisions, or data uncertainty, creates a precautionary motive and...

This paper describes a way of recording information on discrete states by means of a technique called key transformation. This involves recognising that, where N discrete states of a variable are observed T groups or periods, any particular combination of states and periods can be uniquely...

We provide evidence that higher moments of the relative price distribution improve out-of-sample forecasts of inflation. Further, we show how theoretically consistent higher moments can be calculated by expanding the seminal work by Theil (1967). Results presented here are of direct relevance to...

The paper describes and illustrates a method for generalizing the standard computation of period-to-period percentage change of total factor productivity (TFP) to computation of TFP based on a best k-times-differentiable model. A "model" is a k-times-differentiable functional form of a...

In this study we build two forecasting models to predict inflation for the Netherlands and for the euro area. Inflation is the yearly change of the Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices (HICP). The models provide point forecasts and prediction intervals for both the components of the HICP and the...