The Meese-Rogoff Puzzle: What Puzzle?

The Messe-Rogoff puzzle has been a debatable topic since 1983 when Richard Meese and Kenneth Rogoff demonstrated that no exchange rate model can outperform the random walk in out-of-sample forecasting. This finding been taken to imply the weakness of international economics and finance and raised th...

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Main Authors: Moosa, I., Burns, Kelly
Other Authors: Carly M Hutson
Format: Book Chapter
Published: Nova Science Publishers 2015
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/10817
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author Moosa, I.
Burns, Kelly
author2 Carly M Hutson
author_facet Carly M Hutson
Moosa, I.
Burns, Kelly
author_sort Moosa, I.
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description The Messe-Rogoff puzzle has been a debatable topic since 1983 when Richard Meese and Kenneth Rogoff demonstrated that no exchange rate model can outperform the random walk in out-of-sample forecasting. This finding been taken to imply the weakness of international economics and finance and raised the question as to why firms spend money on exchange rate forecasts and use them as an input in the financial decision making process when these forecasts are that bad. In this study we resolve the puzzle by examining a number of propositions, including the following: (i) we should expect nothing but that exchange rate models cannot outperform the random walk in out-of-sample forecasting if forecasting accuracy is measured by metrics that depend on the magnitude of the forecasting error only; (ii) the use of dynamic models to outperform the random walk is inappropriate because it is tantamount to beating a random walk with a random walk; and (iii) it is possible to outperform the random walk in terms of other metrics such as direction accuracy and profitability.
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-108172017-01-30T11:21:07Z The Meese-Rogoff Puzzle: What Puzzle? Moosa, I. Burns, Kelly Carly M Hutson Random Walk Direction Accuracy Forecasting Exchange Rate Models The Messe-Rogoff puzzle has been a debatable topic since 1983 when Richard Meese and Kenneth Rogoff demonstrated that no exchange rate model can outperform the random walk in out-of-sample forecasting. This finding been taken to imply the weakness of international economics and finance and raised the question as to why firms spend money on exchange rate forecasts and use them as an input in the financial decision making process when these forecasts are that bad. In this study we resolve the puzzle by examining a number of propositions, including the following: (i) we should expect nothing but that exchange rate models cannot outperform the random walk in out-of-sample forecasting if forecasting accuracy is measured by metrics that depend on the magnitude of the forecasting error only; (ii) the use of dynamic models to outperform the random walk is inappropriate because it is tantamount to beating a random walk with a random walk; and (iii) it is possible to outperform the random walk in terms of other metrics such as direction accuracy and profitability. 2015 Book Chapter http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/10817 Nova Science Publishers restricted
spellingShingle Random Walk
Direction Accuracy
Forecasting
Exchange Rate Models
Moosa, I.
Burns, Kelly
The Meese-Rogoff Puzzle: What Puzzle?
title The Meese-Rogoff Puzzle: What Puzzle?
title_full The Meese-Rogoff Puzzle: What Puzzle?
title_fullStr The Meese-Rogoff Puzzle: What Puzzle?
title_full_unstemmed The Meese-Rogoff Puzzle: What Puzzle?
title_short The Meese-Rogoff Puzzle: What Puzzle?
title_sort meese-rogoff puzzle: what puzzle?
topic Random Walk
Direction Accuracy
Forecasting
Exchange Rate Models
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/10817