news and noise

Data Revisions Are Not Well-Behaved

JEL codes: 
C22, C53, C82
Version Date: 
Sep 2005
Abstract: 

We document the empirical properties of revisions to major macroeconomic variables in the United States. Our findings suggest that they do not satisfy simple desirable statistical properties. In particular, we find that these revisions do not have a zero mean, which indicates that the initial announcements by statistical agencies are biased.

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