A mean feat
Despite forecasters’ best efforts, growth is devilishly hard to predict
“THE only function of economic forecasting is to make astrology look respectable,” John Kenneth Galbraith, an irreverent economist, once said. Since economic output represents the aggregated activity of billions of people, influenced by forces seen and unseen, it is a wonder forecasters ever get it right. Yet economists cannot resist trying. As predictions for 2016 are unveiled, it is worth assessing the soothsayers’ records.
This article appeared in the Finance & economics section of the print edition under the headline "A mean feat"
From the January 9th 2016 edition
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