arXiv:2606.28670econ.EMcs.AI2026-06

MACROCAST无需真实未来数据,用模拟数据训练,实现无泄漏的实时宏观经济预测。

MACROCAST: A Vintage-Consistent Time Series Foundation Model for Real-Time Macroeconomic Forecasting

论文配图:MACROCAST: A Vintage-Consistent Time Series Foundation Model for Real-Time Macroeconomic Forecasting
图 1 · 摘自论文原文
  • 用合成数据预训练+基于历史版本的真实数据微调,杜绝时间泄露和修正偏差。
  • 在FRED-MD上对约80%的经济指标预测优于自回归基准,9分钟完成一次微调。
  • 适合关注实时预测准确性和数据伦理的研究者与政策制定者。

我们提出MACROCAST,一种轻量级时间序列基础模型(TSFM),用于实时宏观经济预测。现有TSFM存在两类数据泄露:时间污染(模型可能接触被预测序列的实际值)和修正偏差(在完全修订数据上训练,偏离实时预报员可用的初步发布版本)。据我们所知,MACROCAST是首个完全避免这两类泄露的TSFM:训练全程不接触任何实时预报员本不该获得的信息。先在约1个GPU天内使用纯合成时间序列预训练,再在基于贝叶斯向量自回归(Bayesian VAR)、动态因子模型及ARIMA模型从历史版本的ALFRED数据中生成的合成数据上微调。由于预训练仅用模拟数据,微调仅用实时版本数据,从未引入观测到的未来值或修订值;每次微调耗时仅九分钟。在真实时间外样本测试中评估于FRED-MD数据库,MACROCAST在约80%的序列-预测区间上优于AR(1)基准,达到或超过当前最强的Chronos-2模型,且优于贝叶斯VAR与动态因子模型基准,所有表现均在无数据泄露条件下取得。

原文摘要 · Abstract (English)

We introduce MACROCAST, a lightweight Time Series Foundation Model (TSFM) for real-time macroeconomic forecasting. Existing TSFMs suffer from data leakage in two forms: temporal contamination, as the model may have seen the realized values of the series it forecasts, and revision bias, as training on fully revised data diverges from the preliminary, vintage-specific releases available to real-time forecasters. MACROCAST is, to our knowledge, the first TSFM that rules out both forms of leakage entirely: at no stage of training is the model exposed to information that would not have been available to a forecaster in real time. We train MACROCAST first on purely synthetic time series in approximately one GPU-day and then fine-tune it on synthetic time series drawn from Bayesian VARs, dynamic factor models, and ARIMA specifications estimated on vintage-specific ALFRED data. Because pretraining uses only simulated data and fine-tuning uses only real-time vintages, no observed future or revised value ever enters the model; each fine-tuning run takes nine minutes. Evaluated on the FRED-MD database in a genuine real-time out-of-sample exercise, MACROCAST improves on the AR(1) benchmark for roughly 80% of series-horizon pairs, matches or surpasses Chronos-2 -- the strongest currently available TSFM -- and outperforms the Bayesian VAR and dynamic factor model benchmarks, all in a data-leakage-free manner.

宏观经济时间序列基础模型预测

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