For benchmarking monthly and quarterly series to annual series and to the Economic Census every five years, the U.S. Census Bureau uses an iterative, nonlinear method known as the Causey-Trager method. However, the Census Bureau's X-12-ARIMA seasonal adjustment program uses a modified Denton procedure to benchmark the seasonally adjusted series to the annual totals of the unadjusted series. Some users have requested a different benchmark method in X-12-ARIMA.
Statistics Canada has proposed several different benchmark methods, including a regression procedure, to replace the method for benchmarking in X-12-ARIMA. Using a sample of U.S. time series, this paper investigates the properties of the benchmarks from the current procedure in X-12-ARIMA, the new methods proposed by Statistics Canada, and the Causey-Trager method for benchmarking the seasonally adjusted series to the annual totals of the raw data. The objective of this study is twofold:
Benchmark, seasonal adjustment
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