Show Summary Details

Page of

Printed from Oxford Research Encyclopedias, Economics and Finance. Under the terms of the licence agreement, an individual user may print out a single article for personal use (for details see Privacy Policy and Legal Notice).

date: 14 February 2025

The Evolution of Forecast Density Combinations in Economicslocked

The Evolution of Forecast Density Combinations in Economicslocked

  • Knut Are Aastveit, Knut Are AastveitNorges Bank
  • James Mitchell, James MitchellWarwick Business School, University of Warwick
  • Francesco RavazzoloFrancesco RavazzoloFaculty of Economics and Management, Free University of Bozen-Bolzano
  • , and Herman K. van DijkHerman K. van DijkDepartment of Econometrics, Erasmus University Rotterdam

Summary

Increasingly, professional forecasters and academic researchers in economics present model-based and subjective or judgment-based forecasts that are accompanied by some measure of uncertainty. In its most complete form this measure is a probability density function for future values of the variable or variables of interest. At the same time, combinations of forecast densities are being used in order to integrate information coming from multiple sources such as experts, models, and large micro-data sets. Given the increased relevance of forecast density combinations, this article explores their genesis and evolution both inside and outside economics. A fundamental density combination equation is specified, which shows that various frequentist as well as Bayesian approaches give different specific contents to this density. In its simplest case, it is a restricted finite mixture, giving fixed equal weights to the various individual densities. The specification of the fundamental density combination equation has been made more flexible in recent literature. It has evolved from using simple average weights to optimized weights to “richer” procedures that allow for time variation, learning features, and model incompleteness. The recent history and evolution of forecast density combination methods, together with their potential and benefits, are illustrated in the policymaking environment of central banks.

Subjects

  • Econometrics, Experimental and Quantitative Methods
  • Financial Economics
  • Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics

You do not currently have access to this article

Login

Please login to access the full content.

Subscribe

Access to the full content requires a subscription