All regular economic forecasters should carry out periodic assessments of
the accuracy of their forecasts. These are not normally for publication, but rather
to assure themselves that there are no systematic biases in their work and to
identify avoidable weaknesses in their forecasting approach.
In an ideal world, published assessments of the forecasting record over a
suitable period should be undertaken by a disinterested third party, preferably
including a comparative study of forecasts from different sources. In the real
world, third parties have proved uninterested rather than disinterested, leaving
the individual forecaster to decide whether to publish his or her own
assessments
