Should one rely on professional exchange rate forecasts: An empirical analysis of professional forecasts for the /US-$ rate

Abstract

The study analyses the characteristics of professional exchange rate forecasts for the /US-$ rate. The results indicate that the quality of forecasts produced by profes-sional economists is rather poor and incompatible with the rational expectations hy-pothesis. This dismal result is according to our analysis attributed to the fact that professional forecasts are to a large extend influenced by actual changes in exchange rates. A reasonable explanation for this behaviour can be derived from the behav-ioural finance literature. According to the anchoring heuristic decision processes are often dominated by available pieces of information even if they are obviously of no relevance. --foreign exchange market,rational expectations,forecasts,behavioural finance,anchoring heuristics