9th ECB Workshop on Forecasting Techniques: Forecast Uncertainty and Macroeconomic Indicators
The European Central Bank (ECB) is holding its ninth Workshop on Forecasting Techniques in Frankfurt am Main on 3 and 4 June 2016.
This biennial workshop provides a forum for the presentation of new theoretical and applied work on forecasting. In recent years monetary policy has been operating in an environment of elevated macroeconomic and financial uncertainty, including possible structural changes. This conference will bring together experts from all fields related to macroeconomic and financial forecasting to exchange new ideas on quantifying forecasting uncertainty and to put new insights from economic and statistical theory into practice in the current macroeconomic environment. The organisers particularly encourage submissions on the following topics:
- Forecasting inflation
- Long-run forecasting
- Estimation uncertainty underlying macroeconomic statistics
- Probabilistic forecasts
- Forecasting in the presence of structural breaks
- Forecasting Value at Risk and volatility
- Evaluating forecasts
The scope of the conference is not limited to the topics listed above and submissions from all areas of forecasting are welcome.
Invited speakers
Todd Clark (Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland), Gary Koop (University of Strathclyde), James Stock (Harvard University) and Mark Watson (Princeton University) have confirmed their participation as invited speakers.
Scientific committee
Barbara Rossi (ICREA-Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona GSE and CREI), Marta Bańbura, Marek Jarociński and Georg Strasser (all ECB).
Venue
ECB main building, Sonnemannstrasse 20 
 Press centre, room C5.01
Programme
Conference programme as PDFFriday, 3 June 2016
* indicates the presenter
- 8:30
- Registration and coffee
- 9:00
-  
   Welcome addressVítor Constâncio, European Central Bank 
- 9:10
-  
   Part IChair: Matteo Ciccarelli, European Central Bank Keynote speech Forecasting with high dimensional panel VARsPresentationGary Koop*, University of Strathclyde 
 with Dimitris Korobilis, University of Glasgow
- 9:55
-  
   Large time-varying parameter VARs: a nonparametric approachPresentationDiscussionFabrizio Venditti*, Banca d'Italia 
 with George Kapetanios, Queen Mary University of London; Massimiliano Marcellino, Università BocconiDiscussant: Francesco Ravazzolo, Freie Universität Bozen 
- 10:40
- Coffee break
- 11:00
-  
   Priors for the long runPresentationDiscussionGiorgio Primiceri*, Northwestern University 
 with Domenico Giannone, Federal Reserve Bank of New York; Michele Lenza, European Central BankDiscussant: Gianni Amisano, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System 
- 11:45
-  
   Bayesian compressed vector autoregressions PresentationDiscussionDimitris Korobilis*, University of Glasgow 
 with Gary Koop, University of Strathclyde; Davide Pettenuzzo, Brandeis UniversityDiscussant: Sylvia Kaufmann, Studienzentrum Gerzensee 
- 12:30
-  
   Lunch and poster session Poster SessionPoster 1: Order invariant evaluation of multivariate density forecastsPresentationJonas Dovern*, Universität Heidelberg 
 with Hans Manner, Universität zu KölnPoster 2: Subjective interest rate uncertainty and the macroeconomy: an international panel approachPresentationKlodiana Istrefi*, Banque de France 
 with Sarah Mouabbi, Banque de FrancePoster 3: Fractionally integrated multivariate models for fat-tailed realised covariance kernels and returnsPresentationAnne Opschoor*, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam 
 with Andre Lucas, Vrije Universiteit AmsterdamPoster 4: A new approach to multi-step forecasting using dynamic stochastic general equilibrium modelsPresentationSimon Price*, Essex Business School 
 with George Kapetanios, Queen Mary University of London; Konstantinos Theodoridis, Bank of EnglandPoster 5: A new monthly indicator of global real economic activityPresentationFrancesco Ravazzolo*, Freie Universität Bozen 
 with Joaquin Vespignani, University of TasmaniaPoster 6: What do professional forecasters actually predict?PresentationMichel van der Wel*, Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam 
 with Didier Nibbering and Richard Paap, Erasmus Universiteit RotterdamPoster 7: Large time varying parameter VAR models for macroeconomic forecastingPresentationGianni Amisano*, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System 
 with Domenico Giannone, Federal Reserve Bank of New York; Michele Lenza, European Central Bank
- 14:30
-  
   Part 2Chair: Simone Manganelli, European Central Bank Keynote speech Inflation volatility and the level of inflationPresentationMark Watson*, Princeton University 
 with Paul Ho, Princeton University
- 15:15
- Coffee break
- 15:35
-  
   Inflation and professional forecast dynamics: an evaluation of stickiness, persistence and volatilityPresentationDiscussionElmar Mertens*, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System 
 with James Nason, North Carolina State UniversityDiscussant: Wolfgang Lemke, European Central Bank 
- 16:20
-  
   News and narratives in financial systems: exploiting big data for systemic risk assessmentDavid Tuckett*, University College London 
 with David Gregory and Sujit Kapadia*, Bank of England; Rickard Nyman, Paul Ormerod and Robert Smith, University College LondonDiscussant: Laurent Ferrara, Banque de France 
- 17:05
-  
   Short-term forecasting of business cycle turning points: a mixed-frequency Markov-switching dynamic factor analysisPresentationDiscussionMatías Pacce*, BBVA Research 
 with Siem Jan Koopman, Vrije Universiteit AmsterdamDiscussant: Jonas Dovern, Universität Heidelberg 
- 19:00
- Dinner
- 9:00
- Registration and coffee
- 9:30
-  
   Part 3Chair: Barbara Rossi, Universitat Pompeu Fabra Keynote speech Large vector autoregressions with stochastic volatility and flexible priorsPresentationTodd Clark*, Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland 
 with Andrea Carriero, Queen Mary University of London; Massimiliano Marcellino, Università Bocconi
- 10:15
-  
   Forecaster's dilemma: extreme events and forecast evaluationPresentationDiscussionSebastian Lerch*, Karlsruher Institut für Technologie 
 with Tilmann Gneiting, Karlsruher Institut für Technologie; Francesco Ravazzolo, Freie Universität Bozen; Thordis Thorarinsdottir, Norsk RegnesentralDiscussant: Anthony Garratt, University of Warwick 
- 11:00
- Coffee break
- 11:20
-  
   Approximating fixed-horizon forecasts using fixed-event forecastsPresentationDiscussionMalte Knüppel*, Deutsche Bundesbank 
 with Andreea Vladu, Deutsche BundesbankDiscussant: Simon Price, University of Essex 
- 12:05
- Lunch
- 13:30
-  
   Part 4Chair: Geoff Kenny, European Central Bank Keynote speech Components of inflation, inflation forecasting, and the Phillips relationPresentationJames Stock*, Harvard University 
- 14:15
-  
   The dynamics of expected returns: evidence from multi-scale time series modellingPresentationDiscussionDaniele Bianchi*, University of Warwick 
 with Andrea Tamoni, London School of EconomicsDiscussant: Anne Opschoor, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam 
- 15:00
- Coffee break
- 15:20
-  
   Understanding the sources of macroeconomic uncertaintyPresentationDiscussionTatevik Sekhposyan*, Texas A&M University 
 with Barbara Rossi and Matthieu Soupre, Universitat Pompeu FabraDiscussant: Michel van der Wel, Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam 
- 16:05
-  
   The joint dynamics of the US and euro area inflation: expectations and time-varying uncertaintyPresentationDiscussionOlesya Grishchenko*, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System 
 with Sarah Mouabbi, Banque de France; Jean-Paul Renne, Université de LausanneDiscussant: Oreste Tristani, European Central Bank 
- 16:50
-  
   Concluding remarksGeoff Kenny, European Central Bank 
- End of workshop