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Do Macroforecasters Herd?

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  • MICHAEL P. CLEMENTS

Abstract

We show that typical tests of whether forecasters herd will falsely indicate herding behavior for a variety of types of behavior and forecasting environments that give rise to disagreement among forecasters. We establish that forecasters will appear to herd if differences between them reflect noise as opposed to private information, or if they arise from informational rigidities. Noise can have a behavioral interpretation and if so will depend on the behavioral model under consideration. An application of the herding tests to U.S. quarterly survey forecasts of inflation and output growth data 1981–2013 does not support herding behavior.

Suggested Citation

  • Michael P. Clements, 2018. "Do Macroforecasters Herd?," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 50(2-3), pages 265-292, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:jmoncb:v:50:y:2018:i:2-3:p:265-292
    DOI: 10.1111/jmcb.12460
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Robert Rich & Joseph Tracy, 2021. "A Closer Look at the Behavior of Uncertainty and Disagreement: Micro Evidence from the Euro Area," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 53(1), pages 233-253, February.
    2. Meade, Nigel & Driver, Ciaran, 2023. "Differing behaviours of forecasters of UK GDP growth," International Journal of Forecasting, Elsevier, vol. 39(2), pages 772-790.
    3. Goldstein, Nathan & Zilberfarb, Ben-Zion, 2021. "Do forecasters really care about consensus?," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 100(C).
    4. Yoichi Tsuchiya, 2021. "Crises, market shocks, and herding behavior in stock price forecasts," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 61(2), pages 919-945, August.
    5. Boskabadi, Elahe, 2022. "Economic policy uncertainty and forecast bias in the survey of professional forecasters," MPRA Paper 115081, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    6. Levis, Mario & Muradoğlu, Yaz Gulnur & Vasileva, Kristina, 2023. "Herding in foreign direct investment," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    7. Keppo, Jussi & Satopää, Ville A., 2024. "Bayesian herd detection for dynamic data," International Journal of Forecasting, Elsevier, vol. 40(1), pages 285-301.

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