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Activity Number: 161 - Advances in Forecasting of Macroeconomic Variables: New Methods and Applications
Type: Topic Contributed
Date/Time: Tuesday, August 4, 2020 : 10:00 AM to 11:50 AM
Sponsor: Business and Economic Statistics Section
Abstract #309744
Title: Quantile Density Combination: An Application to US GDP Forecasts
Author(s): Knut-Are Aastveit* and Giulia Mantoan and Saskia Are ter Ellen
Companies: Norges Bank and Warwick Business School, University of Warwick and Norges Bank
Keywords: Forecasting; Quantile regressions; Forecast combinations; Bayesian analysis
Abstract:

In this paper, we combine density forecasts from Bayesian quantile regressions. We develop a forecasts combination scheme that assigns weights to the individual predictive density forecasts based on quantile scores. Compared to standard combination schemes, our approach has the advantage of assigning different set of combination weights to the various quantiles of the predictive distribution. We apply our approach to US GDP growth forecasts based on quantile regressions using a broad set of common leading indicators. The results show that density forecasts from our quantile combination approach outperforms forecasts from commonly used combination approaches such as Bayesian Model Averaging, optimal combination, combinations based on recursive logarithmic score weights and equal weights. In particular, our quantile combination approach provides more accurate forecasts for the lower tail of the GDP distribution, measuring downside macroeconomic risk.


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