Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Economic models “failed to cope” with the 2008-09 financial crash The failure to predict the financial crisis was a “Michael Fish” moment for economists, the Bank of England"s chief economist has said.
Andy Haldane compared financial forecasts to the famously inaccurate forecast by the BBC weatherman, ahead of the UK"s great storm of 1987.
He said the profession was “to some degree in crisis” following the 2008-09 crash and the Brexit vote.
The Bank denies claims it gave gloomy forecasts to support the Remain side.
Mr Haldane was speaking to an audience at the Institute for Government in London on Thursday, when he made the comparison between economists and weather forecasters.
Kamal Ahmed: The Bank"s "Michael Fish" moment
He said economic models had been “rather narrow and rather fragile”, which was “fine as long as the going was good” but when the world was “tipped upside down” by the 2008-09 crisis, they had failed..
Read More
