We study forecasts of real GDP growth using a large panel of individual forecasts from 36
advanced and emerging economies over the period 1989–2010.We show that the degree of
information rigidity in average forecasts is substantially higher than that in individual forecasts.
Individual-level forecasts are updated quite frequently, a behavior which is more in
line ‘‘noisy’’ information models (Woodford, 2002; Sims, 2003) than with the assumptions
of the sticky information model (Mankiw & Reis, 2002). While there are cross-country variations
in information rigidity,