Mark E. Wohar - Böcker

Forecasting in the presence of structural breaks and model uncertainty are active areas of recent research with crucial implications for practical problems in forecasting. "Forecasting in the Presence of Structural Breaks and Model Uncertainty" presents findings from the recent literature and new findings in a way that will be very useful to academic researchers and practitioners alike. Each chapter includes detailed empirical applications that demonstrate the usefulness (and limitations) of different methods for generating forecasts when structural breaks and model uncertainty are of significant concern. The authors describe in detail their methods and their results, and the data and programs are made available on a web site devoted to the book. The volume addresses forecasting variables from both Macroeconomics and Finance, and considers many different methods of dealing with model instability and model uncertainty when forming forecasts. Authors are leading experts in the topics they survey and extend. This book is supported by a website detailing the data and programs used.

Changes in the field of central banking over the past two decades have been nothing short of dramatic. They include the importance of central bank autonomy, the desirability of low and stable inflation, and the vital role played by how central banks communicate their views and intentions to the markets and the public more generally. There remains considerable diversity nevertheless in the institutional framework affecting central banks, the manner in which the stance of monetary policy is determined and assessed, and the forces that dictate the conduct of monetary policy more generally. The global financial crisis, which began in the United States in 2007, only serves to highlight further the importance of central bank policies. The aim of this volume is to take stock of where we are in the realm of the practice of central banking and considers some of the implications arising from the ongoing crisis.