Do Forecasters Believe in Okun’s Law? An Assessment of Unemployment and Output Forecasts

Author/Editor:

Laurence M. Ball ; João Tovar Jalles ; Prakash Loungani

Publication Date:

February 10, 2014

Electronic Access:

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Disclaimer: This Working Paper should not be reported as representing the views of the IMF.The views expressed in this Working Paper are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent those of the IMF or IMF policy. Working Papers describe research in progress by the author(s) and are published to elicit comments and to further debate

Summary:

This paper provides an assessment of the consistency of unemployment and output forecasts. We show that, consistent with Okun’s Law, forecasts of real GDP growth and the change in unemployment are negatively correlated. The Okun coefficient—the responsiveness of unemployment to growth—from forecasts is fairly similar to that in the data for various countries. Furthermore, revisions to unemployment forecasts are negatively correlated with revisions to real GDP forecasts. These results are based on forecasts taken from Consensus Economics for nine advanced countries since 1989.

Series:

Working Paper No. 2014/024

Subject:

English

Publication Date:

February 10, 2014

ISBN/ISSN:

9781475584097/1018-5941

Stock No:

WPIEA2014024

Pages:

19

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