Professional Forecasters and Markets: The Term Structure of Inflation Expectations

Research Handbook of Inflation, (G. Ascari and R. Trezzi eds.), 2025, Edward Elgar, 333–346.
Monetary PolicyMeasurement of Economic ActivityApplications of State Space Methods

Inflation expectations forecast comparison

This chapter examines various measures of inflation expectations from surveys of professional forecasters and financial markets in the United States from 1998 to 2023. These measures span different horizons, forming a term structure of inflation expectations analogous to a yield curve. The analysis includes survey-based measures, a continuous term structure developed by Aruoba (2020), and market-based measures like swap rates and TIPS break-even rates. The chapter conducts a forecast comparison, finding that professional forecaster measures outperform market-based and model-based measures. Additionally, it analyzes inflation expectations during the Great Recession and the COVID-19 pandemic, revealing that while short-term expectations are often inaccurate during sudden events, long-term expectations remain stable.

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