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The Proper Use of Google Trends in Forecasting Models

Marcelo C. Medeiros, Henrique F. Pires

arXiv 7 Apr 2021 · Econometrics · 1 citations (OpenAlex)

arXiv:2104.03065 · PDF · DOI · OpenAlex · Extracted main text

Abstract

It is widely known that Google Trends have become one of the most popular free tools used by forecasters both in academics and in the private and public sectors. There are many papers, from several different fields, concluding that Google Trends improve forecasts' accuracy. However, what seems to be widely unknown, is that each sample of Google search data is different from the other, even if you set the same search term, data and location. This means that it is possible to find arbitrary conclusions merely by chance. This paper aims to show why and when it can become a problem and how to overcome this obstacle.

Citation extraction

23
references
25
in-text mentions
23
distinct cited
1
self-citations
4,078
main-text words

appendix boundary found by appendix_command · 81% of the source is main text. Read the extracted text to check this.

Most heavily cited references

The works this paper leans on most, across its whole bibliography — not restricted to papers in our corpus. Ranked by composite intensity, which combines how often a work is mentioned, how many sections mention it, and how much of that falls in the main text rather than the appendix.

ReferenceIntensityMentionsSectionsMain text
1L. Ferrara and A. Simoni (2019) When are google data useful to nowcast gdp? an approach via pre-selection and shrinkage0.64422100%
2N. Woloszko (2020) Tracking activity in real time with google trends0.5112250%
3M. Medeiros, A. Street, D. Valladão, G. Vasconcelos, and E. Zilberman (2004) Short-Term Covid-19 Forecast for Latecomers0.40511100%
4C. B. Carneiro, I. H. Ferreira, M. C. Medeiros, H. F. Pires, and E.… (2009) Lockdown effects in US states: an artificial counterfactual approach self0.40511100%
5F. Amuri and J. Marcucci (2017) The predictive power of google searches in forecasting us unemployment0.40511100%
6N. Askitas and K. Zimmermann (2009) Google econometrics and unemployment nowcasting0.40511100%
7S. Doerr and L. Gambacorta (2020) Identifying regions at risk with google trends: the impact of covid-19 on us labour markets0.40511100%
8D. Borup and E. Schütte (2020) In search of a job: Forecasting employment growth using google trends0.40511100%
9D. Borup, D. Rapach, and E. Schütte (2021) Now- and backcasting initial claims with high-dimensional daily internet search-volume data0.40511100%
10C. Pelat, C. Turbelin, A. Bar-Hen, A. Flahault, and A. Valleron (2009) More diseases tracked by using google trends0.40511100%

Showing the top 10 of 23 scored citations.

Cited by, within the corpus

arXiv econ.EM papers that cite this one, ranked by how heavily they lean on it.

Citing paperIntensityMentionsSections
1Nowcasting R&D Expenditures: A Machine Learning Approach0.40511
2Quantifying Demand Shocks in the Green and Digital Transition0.40511