We revisit the relation between stock market volatility and macroeconomic activity using a new class of component models that distinguish short-run from long-run movements. We formulate models with the long-term component driven by inflation and industrial production growth that are in terms of...

This paper shows that the explanation of the decline in the volatility of GDP growth since the mid 1980s is not the decline in the volatility of exogenous shocks but rather a change in their propagation mechanism. (JEL: E32, E37, C32, C53) (c) 2008 by the European Economic Association.

The answer depends on the objective. The approach of combining five of the leading forecasting models with equal weights dominates the strategy of selecting one model and using it for all horizons up to two years. Even more accurate forecasts, however, are obtained when allowing the forecast...