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Challenges in Nowcasting GDP Growth
Abstract: Real gross domestic product (GDP) declined at an annualized rate of 4.8 percent in the first quarter, according to the first estimate from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA), 3.8 percentage points more than the decline anticipated by the Atlanta Fed's final GDPNow model projection. Why was the error, which was easily the model's largest on record for final GDPNow forecasts, so big? Chart 1 looks at GDPNow's forecast errors since the model went live in mid-2014 and breaks them down into forecast errors for the various subcomponents' contributions to GDP growth.
Keywords: GDP; Forecasts; Monetary policy; COVID-19;
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Provider: Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta
Source: Macroblog
Publication Date: 2020-05-12