Alan T. Molnar - Economic Forecasting

Economic forecasting is the process of making predictions about the economy as a whole or in part. Such forecasts may be made in great detail or may be very general. In any case, they describe the expected future behaviour of all or part of the economy and help form the basis of planning. Economic forecasting is of immense importance as any economic system is a stochastic entity of great complexity and vital to the national development in the information age. Forecasts are required for two basic reasons: the future is uncertain, and the full impact of many decisions taken now might deviate later. Consequently, accurate predictions of the future would improve the efficiency of the decision-making process. In particular, the knowledge of future demand for products and services is imperative to all industries since it is a prerequisite for any viable corporate strategy. This new and important book gathers the latest research from around the globe in this field and related topics such as: the econometric modelling and forecasting of private housing demand, the nonparametric time-detrended Fisher effect, and others.