How accurate are economic forecasts? - a podcast by Marketplace

Earlier this month, the International Monetary Fund put out its weakest medium-term projection for global economic growth since 1990. This had one listener wondering: How accurate are the IMF’s predictions? We’ll get into it and answer more of your questions, like why the U.S. Postal Service still delivers six days a week and what is the carbon footprint of space travel. Plus, we’ll explain why the Federal Reserve is losing billions every week.

Here’s everything we talked about today:

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  • “The IMF’s 5-year growth forecast is its weakest since 1990” from Quartz
  
  
  
  

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  • “IMF Forecasts: Process, Quality, and Country Perspectives” from the International Monetary Fund
  
  
  
  

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  • “Economic Forecasting Is Really Difficult. Just Ask the IMF” from Bloomberg
  
  
  
  

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  • “The U.S. Postal Service and Six-Day Delivery: History, Issues, and Current Legislation” from the Congressional Research Service
  
  
  
  

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  • “Six-days-a-week mail delivery saved; Biden signs Postal bill” from AP News
  
  
  
  

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  • “Formerly a cash cow, the Fed is now losing ‘about $2 billion a week’” from Marketplace
  
  
  
  

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  • “What if the Federal Reserve books losses because of its quantitative easing?” from the Brookings Institution
  
  
  
  

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  • “The pollution caused by rocket launches” from the BBC
  
  
  
  

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  • “How the billionaire space race could be one giant leap for pollution” from The Guardian
  
  
  
  

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  • “Fact check: Jeff Bezos’ New Shepard rocket launch didn’t emit carbon” from USA Today
  
  
  
  

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