Father of business cycle forecasting dies

Victor Zarnowitz was the father of business cycles forecasting in the post-WW II period. He died this week at 89. If you wanted to focus on trying to predict business cycle turning points and really understand the business cycle, you had to read the work of Zarnowitz. He pushed forecasting to new heights after the important business cycle work of Burns and Mitchell at the NBER.

He placed the right emphasis on practical analysis of what is most important, turning points. He was always someone who could give a deeper interpretation of data by focusing on its construction. His influence on practical forecasters is immeasurable.