Improving forecasting through textbooks — A 25 year review

In celebration of the International Institute of Forecasters' 25th anniversary, this paper reviews the improvement in forecasting by looking at changes in forecasting textbooks over the last 25 years. Today, more texts are available than ever before to both introductory students and seasoned forecasters and many of these are increasingly specialized. Today's textbook authors are standing on the shoulders of the previous authors while adding original ideas and discussing innovations contained in the more recent forecasting literature. This paper reviews books that should be considered milestones within the forecasting profession. This paper also details changes in the length, presentation, organization, content and pedagogy of forecasting textbooks during the past 25 years. In addition, we review the changes due to the diffusion of forecasting literature into textbooks.