Applications can range from forecasting the weather to predicting the annual Gross Domestic Product of a country or the number of cars a company or an individual dealer is likely to sell in a year.
While forecasts are often made for future values of a time series, they can also be for one-off events such as the outcome of a presidential election or a football match.
Matching this strong demand is the large volume of readily available forecast information from governments, international agencies and various private firms.
However, deciphering the best forecast method is no easy task, and largely depends on the objectives of the user and the constraints they are likely to face.
Combining economic forecasts is well established in many countries and can count central banks, government institutions and businesses among the users.
[4][5][6] In sum, the usefulness of the consensus forecast technique has been supported by a wealth of empirical studies in recent decades.
An empirical study carried out by Roy Batchelor in 2000 demonstrates greater accuracy in the consensus forecasts over macroeconomic projections produced by leading multinational agencies such as the International Monetary Fund and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.