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Forecasting Spanish unemployment with Google Trends and dimension reduction techniques

Author

Listed:
  • Rodrigo Mulero

    (Universidad Complutense de Madrid)

  • Alfredo García-Hiernaux

    (Universidad Complutense de Madrid
    ICAE)

Abstract

This paper presents a method to improve the one-step-ahead forecasts of the Spanish unemployment monthly series. To do so, we use numerous potential explanatory variables extracted from searches in Google (Google Trends tool). Two different dimension reduction techniques are implemented (PCA and Forward Stepwise Selection) to decide how to combine the explanatory variables or which ones to use. The results of a recursive forecasting exercise reveal a statistically significant increase in predictive accuracy of 10–25%, depending on the dimension reduction method employed. A deep robustness analysis confirms these findings, as well as the relevance of using a large amount of Google queries together with a dimension reduction technique, when no prior information on which are the most informative queries is available.

Suggested Citation

  • Rodrigo Mulero & Alfredo García-Hiernaux, 2021. "Forecasting Spanish unemployment with Google Trends and dimension reduction techniques," SERIEs: Journal of the Spanish Economic Association, Springer;Spanish Economic Association, vol. 12(3), pages 329-349, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:series:v:12:y:2021:i:3:d:10.1007_s13209-021-00231-x
    DOI: 10.1007/s13209-021-00231-x
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Mihaela Simionescu & Javier Cifuentes-Faura, 2022. "Forecasting National and Regional Youth Unemployment in Spain Using Google Trends," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 164(3), pages 1187-1216, December.
    2. Nirmalya Thakur & Shuqi Cui & Kesha A. Patel & Isabella Hall & Yuvraj Nihal Duggal, 2023. "A Large-Scale Dataset of Search Interests Related to Disease X Originating from Different Geographic Regions," Data, MDPI, vol. 8(11), pages 1-24, October.
    3. Simionescu, Mihaela & Cifuentes-Faura, Javier, 2022. "Can unemployment forecasts based on Google Trends help government design better policies? An investigation based on Spain and Portugal," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 44(1), pages 1-21.
    4. Rodrigo Mulero & Alfredo Garcia-Hiernaux, 2023. "Forecasting unemployment with Google Trends: age, gender and digital divide," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 65(2), pages 587-605, August.
    5. Nakamura, Nobuyuki & Suzuki, Aya, 2021. "COVID-19 and the intentions to migrate from developing countries: Evidence from online search activities in Southeast Asia," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Unemployment; Forecasting; Google Trends; Dimensionality reduction; RMSE;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C32 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Multiple or Simultaneous Equation Models; Multiple Variables - - - Time-Series Models; Dynamic Quantile Regressions; Dynamic Treatment Effect Models; Diffusion Processes; State Space Models
    • C52 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric Modeling - - - Model Evaluation, Validation, and Selection
    • C53 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric Modeling - - - Forecasting and Prediction Models; Simulation Methods

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