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Evaluating information in multiple horizon forecasts: The DOE's energy price forecasts

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  • Sanders, Dwight R.
  • Manfredo, Mark R.
  • Boris, Keith

Abstract

The United States Department of Energy's (DOE) quarterly price forecasts for energy commodities are examined to determine the incremental information provided at the one-through four-quarter forecast horizons. A direct test for determining information content at alternative forecast horizons, developed by Vuchelen and Gutierrez [Vuchelen, J. and Gutierrez, M.-I. “A Direct Test of the Information Content of the OECD Growth Forecasts.” International Journal of Forecasting. 21(2005):103–117.], is used. The results suggest that the DOE's price forecasts for crude oil, gasoline, and diesel fuel do indeed provide incremental information out to three-quarters ahead, while natural gas and electricity forecasts are informative out to the four-quarter horizon. In contrast, the DOE's coal price forecasts at two-, three-, and four-quarters ahead provide no incremental information beyond that provided for the one-quarter horizon. Recommendations of how to use these results for making forecast adjustments is also provided.

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  • Sanders, Dwight R. & Manfredo, Mark R. & Boris, Keith, 2009. "Evaluating information in multiple horizon forecasts: The DOE's energy price forecasts," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(2), pages 189-196.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:eneeco:v:31:y:2009:i:2:p:189-196
    DOI: 10.1016/j.eneco.2008.08.010
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    3. Allan, Grant & Eromenko, Igor & McGregor, Peter & Swales, Kim, 2011. "The regional electricity generation mix in Scotland: A portfolio selection approach incorporating marine technologies," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(1), pages 6-22, January.
    4. Christiane Baumeister & Lutz Kilian & Thomas K. Lee, 2017. "Inside the Crystal Ball: New Approaches to Predicting the Gasoline Price at the Pump," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 32(2), pages 275-295, March.
    5. Chu, Pyung Kun & Hoff, Kristian & Molnár, Peter & Olsvik, Magnus, 2022. "Crude oil: Does the futures price predict the spot price?," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 60(C).
    6. Bernard, Jean-Thomas & Khalaf, Lynda & Kichian, Maral & Yelou, Clement, 2018. "Oil Price Forecasts For The Long Term: Expert Outlooks, Models, Or Both?," Macroeconomic Dynamics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 22(3), pages 581-599, April.
    7. Funk, Christoph, 2018. "Forecasting the real price of oil - Time-variation and forecast combination," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 288-302.
    8. Mamatzakis, E. & Koutsomanoli-Filippaki, A., 2014. "Testing the rationality of DOE's energy price forecasts under asymmetric loss preferences," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 567-575.
    9. Georges Prat & Remzi Uctum, 2021. "Modeling ex-ante risk premia in the oil market," Working Papers hal-03508699, HAL.
    10. Grant Allan & Igor Eromenko & Peter McGregor & Kim Swales, 2010. "The regional electricity generation mix in Scotland: A portfolio selection approach," Working Papers 1010, University of Strathclyde Business School, Department of Economics.
    11. al Irsyad, Muhammad Indra & Halog, Anthony & Nepal, Rabindra, 2019. "Renewable energy projections for climate change mitigation: An analysis of uncertainty and errors," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 130(C), pages 536-546.
    12. Gonzalo Cortazar & Cristobal Millard & Hector Ortega & Eduardo S. Schwartz, 2019. "Commodity Price Forecasts, Futures Prices, and Pricing Models," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 65(9), pages 4141-4155, September.
    13. Latife Ghalayini, 2017. "Modeling and forecasting spot oil price," Eurasian Business Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 7(3), pages 355-373, December.
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Department of energy; Forecasting; Information content; Multiple horizons;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • Q4 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Energy
    • C53 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric Modeling - - - Forecasting and Prediction Models; Simulation Methods

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