Forecasting real economic activity poses a considerable challenge not only due to hard-to-predict events like the current financial crisis but also due to the fact that targeted variables often undergo significant revisions after their first publication. In this paper we report the results of a...

Anlässlich der Fußballweltmeisterschaft 2006 hatte das DIW Berlin zusammen mit der Freien Universität Berlin erstmals den Transfer- Marktwert der Mannschaften als ein einfaches und transparentes Kriterium für die Prognose der Ergebnisse großer Fußball-Turniere vorgeschlagen. Und...

Historically, football experts' predictions were the only method of predicting the outcomes of championships. Former players, coaches, and nearly all fans have tried their hand at it. And most of these predictions were wrong, since subjective desires and prevailing public opinions always played...

At the FIFA World Cup 2006, the method of using the market value of the teams (“transfer value”) was first proposed as a simple and transparent basis for forecasting the outcome of a major football tournament. Indeed, the countries with players of the highest market value were world...