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Monetary Policy and Forecasts for Real GDP Growth: An Empirical Investigation for the Federal Republic of Germany

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  • Gebhardt Kirschgässner
  • Marcel Savioz

Abstract

Using quarterly data for the Federal Republic of Germany, we generate four‐quarter‐ahead forecasts for real GDP growth. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, other monetary indicators like real M1 or short‐run interest rates clearly outperform forecasts which are based on interest rate spreads. This holds for within as well as for ex‐post predictions. The same holds for the development after 1992. Moreover, it is shown that simple forecasts based on M1 or on short‐run interest rates outperform the common biannual GNP forecasts of the group of German economic research institutes.

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  • Gebhardt Kirschgässner & Marcel Savioz, 2001. "Monetary Policy and Forecasts for Real GDP Growth: An Empirical Investigation for the Federal Republic of Germany," German Economic Review, Verein für Socialpolitik, vol. 2(4), pages 339-365, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:germec:v:2:y:2001:i:4:p:339-365
    DOI: 10.1111/1468-0475.00044
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    Cited by:

    1. Dreger, Christian & Wolters, Jürgen, 2010. "M3 Money Demand and Excess Liquidity in the Euro Area," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 144(3), pages 459-472.
    2. Drechsel, Katja & Scheufele, Rolf, 2010. "Should We Trust in Leading Indicators? Evidence from the Recent Recession," IWH Discussion Papers 10/2010, Halle Institute for Economic Research (IWH).
    3. Ulrich Fritsche & Sabine Stephan, 2000. "Leading Indicators of German Business Cycles: An Assessment of Properties," Macroeconomics 0004005, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    4. Behrens, Christoph & Pierdzioch, Christian & Risse, Marian, 2018. "Testing the optimality of inflation forecasts under flexible loss with random forests," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 270-277.
    5. Gebhard Kirchgässner, 2005. "On the Rationality of the General Public," University of St. Gallen Department of Economics working paper series 2005 2005-13, Department of Economics, University of St. Gallen.
    6. Claus Brand & Hans-Eggert Reimers & Franz Seitz, 2003. "Narrow Money and the Business Cycle: Theoretical aspects and euro area evdence," Macroeconomics 0303012, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    7. Roland Döhrn, 2006. "Improving Business Cycle Forecasts’ Accuracy - What Can We Learn from Past Errors?," RWI Discussion Papers 0051, Rheinisch-Westfälisches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung.
    8. Brand, Claus & Reimers, Hans-Eggert & Seitz, Franz, 2003. "Forecasting real GDP: what role for narrow money?," Working Paper Series 254, European Central Bank.
    9. Ulrich Fritsche & Jörg Döpke, 2005. "Forecast Errors and the Macroeconomy: A Non-Linear Relationship?," Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin 498, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.
    10. Christian Schumacher, 2007. "Forecasting German GDP using alternative factor models based on large datasets," Journal of Forecasting, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 26(4), pages 271-302.
    11. Breuer Christian, 2015. "On the Rationality of Medium-Term Tax Revenue Forecasts: Evidence from Germany," Journal of Economics and Statistics (Jahrbuecher fuer Nationaloekonomie und Statistik), De Gruyter, vol. 235(1), pages 22-40, February.
    12. Ulrich Fritsche & Artur Tarassow, 2017. "Vergleichende Evaluation der Konjunkturprognosen des Instituts für Makroökonomie und Konjunkturforschung an der Hans-Böckler-Stiftung für den Zeitraum 2005-2014," IMK Studies 54-2017, IMK at the Hans Boeckler Foundation, Macroeconomic Policy Institute.
    13. Behrens, Christoph, 2019. "Evaluating the Joint Efficiency of German Trade Forecasts. A nonparametric multivariate approach," Working Papers 9, German Research Foundation's Priority Programme 1859 "Experience and Expectation. Historical Foundations of Economic Behaviour", Humboldt University Berlin.
    14. Döhrn, Roland, 2006. "Improving Business Cycle Forecasts' Accuracy - What Can We Learn from Past Errors?," RWI Discussion Papers 51, RWI - Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung.
    15. Ulrich Fritsche & Jörg Döpke, 2006. "Treffgenauigkeit, Rationalität und Streuung von Konjunkturprognosen für Deutschland," Vierteljahrshefte zur Wirtschaftsforschung / Quarterly Journal of Economic Research, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research, vol. 75(2), pages 34-53.
    16. Christoph Behrens, 2019. "A Nonparametric Evaluation of the Optimality of German Export and Import Growth Forecasts under Flexible Loss," Economies, MDPI, vol. 7(3), pages 1-23, September.
    17. Drechsel, Katja & Scheufele, Rolf, 2011. "The Financial Crisis from a Forecaster’s Perspective," IWH Discussion Papers 5/2011, Halle Institute for Economic Research (IWH).
    18. Fritsche Ulrich & Stephan Sabine, 2002. "Leading Indicators of German Business Cycles. An Assessment of Properties / Frühindikatoren der deutschen Konjunktur. Eine Beurteilung ihrer Eigenschaften," Journal of Economics and Statistics (Jahrbuecher fuer Nationaloekonomie und Statistik), De Gruyter, vol. 222(3), pages 289-315, June.
    19. Döpke, Jörg, 1999. "Predicting Germany's recessions with leading indicators: Evidence from probit models," Kiel Working Papers 944, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).
    20. repec:zbw:rwidps:0051 is not listed on IDEAS

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