We distinguish between three different ways of using real-time data to estimate forecasting equations and argue that the most popular approach should generally be avoided. The point is illustrated with a model that uses monthly industrial production, employment, and retail sales data to predict...

This paper reexamines the "cost of business cycle" calculations made by Lucas ("Models of Business Cycles," Basil Blackwell, New York, 1987) and Imrohoroglu (J. Polit. Econ. 97 (1989), 1364-1383) under alternative specifications of individuals' risk preferences and using alternative...

Research over the past decade has led to improved measures of core inflation in the Consumer Price Index, or CPI. This paper discusses the application of some of the insights and techniques of that line of research to the Federal Reserve Bard of Governors’ preferred inflation gauge, the price...