We assess the usefulness of a large set of electronic payments data comprising debit and credit card transactions, as well as cheques that clear through the banking system, as potential indicators of current GDP growth. These variables capture a broad range of spending activity and are available...

We introduce a flexible nonparametric technique that can be used to select weights in a forecast-combining regression. We perform a Monte Carlo study that evaluates the performance of the proposed technique along with other linear and nonlinear forecast-combining procedures. The simulation...

Since the advent of standard national accounts data over 60 years ago, economists have traditionally relied on monthly or quarterly data supplied by central statistical agencies for macroeconomic modelling and forecasting. However, technological advances of the past several years have resulted...