Professional forecasters may not simply aim to minimize expected squared forecast errors. In models with repeated forecasts the pattern of forecasts reveals valuable information about the forecasters even before the outcome is realized. Rational forecasters will compromise between minimizing errors and mimicking prediction patterns typical of able forecasters. Simple models based on this argument imply that forecasts are biased in the direction of forecasts typical of able forecasters. Our models of strategic bias are rejected empirically as forecasts are biased in directions typical of forecasters with large mean squared forecast errors. This observation is consistent with behavioral explanations of forecast bias.

We investigate the effect of abortion access on teen birthrates using county-level panel data. Past research suggested that prohibiting abortion led to higher teen birthrates. Perhaps surprisingly, we find that more recent restrictions in abortion access, including the closing of abortion clinics and restrictions on Medicaid funding, had the opposite effect. Small declines in access were related to small declines among in-wedlock births; out-of-wedlock births were relatively unaffected. Both results are consistent with a simple model in which pregnancy is endogenous and women gain new information about the attractiveness of parenthood only after becoming pregnant.