Analysis of the U.S. Business Cycle with a Vector-Markov-Switching Model

This paper identifies turning points for the U.S. business cycle using different time series. The model, a multivariate Markov-Swiching model, assumes that each series is characterized by a mixture of two normal distributions (a high and low mean) with switching determined by a common Markov process. The procedure is applied to the series that make up the composite U.S. coincident indicator to obtain business cycle turning points. The business cycle chronology is closer to the NBER reference cycle than the turning points obtained from the individual series using a univariate model. The model is also used to forecast the series, with encouraging results.

Does Growth Vary Over the Business Cycle? Some Evidence From the G7 Countries

In this paper we analyse the dynamics of business cycles in the G7 countries. Our aim is to answer the question of whether growth varies (in an absolute sense) over the business cycle, and hence to examine whether the simple two-phase characterization (downturn/upturn) is an appropriate description of the business cycle. To study growth over the cycle, we estimate single-country equations and then a pooled regression that takes into account the important interactions of international business cycles. The results confirm the steepness asymmetry of the growth cycles and show that growth varies systematically within upturns and downturns. These are consistent with the notion of deepness asymmetry which implies that contractions are more pronounced in the later stages of a downturn whereas expansions are stronger immediately after troughs

Money Demand in the Euro Area

The paper reviews the stability of long-run money demand in the euro area in the light of recent revisions to M3 data. The analysis confirms the existence of a stable long-run money demand, although the estimated equation implies a smaller equilibrium M3 growth than the European Central Bank''s reference value of 4½ percent. The stability of long-run money demand does not imply that the market is always in equilibrium. Indeed, it is argued that periods of disequilibrium can be long and adjustment slow. The paper shows that the difference between the low estimated equilibrium growth rate and the actual growth rate for M3 can be explained by a velocity shock, identified here as the sharp fall in equity prices in the last two years. These characteristics of the money market-summarized in the events of the last two years-would call for an alternative approach in the communication of monetary policy developments, essentially putting less emphasis on month-to-month developments in M3.

Unemployment in Greece: A Survey of the Issues

Digitised version produced by the EUI Library and made available online in 2020

Government Employment and Wages and Labor Market Performance

Government wage, benefit, and employment decisions are not taken on a profit-maximizing basis and have a substantial impact on aggregate labor market performance and unemployment. In a two-sector labor market model with free mobility of labor, an increase in government wages or benefits reduces private sector employment, and government employment is not an effective counter-cyclical instrument. Empirical tests for Greece confirm that the expansion of the public sector in the 1980s contributed to the deterioration of labor market performance.

The U.K. Business Cycle, Monetary Policy, and EMU Entry

In the context of the U.K. government’s EMU entry condition of cyclical convergence, this paper (i) provides further evidence suggesting that historically the U.K.’s business cycle has been more volatile than, and relatively independent of, the cycles in the euro-area countries; and (ii) identifies, using a small VAR model, a relatively significant role for monetary policy in explaining these differences. A simulation exercise suggests that if the U.K. interest rates had been more closely aligned with those in the euro area in the 1990s (as they would be if the United Kingdom were to join EMU), output growth might have been less volatile and more correlated with that in the euro area, but inflationary pressures might have persisted.

The European central bank and inflation targeting

First published: 21 December 1998The paper discusses the background to the European Central Bank's (the ECB's) choice of monetary strategy and goes on to consider in some detail the implications of an inflation targeting strategy in EMU.

Inflation targeting and the European central bank

Digitised version produced by the EUI Library and made available online in 2020

Unemployment in Greece

The Greek unemployment rate rose from 2 percent in the 1960s to 9-10 percent in the 1990s. This reflected the increase in female participation rates, the slowdown in growth, the restructuring of production, and the increased mismatch between jobs and job seekers. But the most crucial factor was the persistence of real wage aspirations. The paper develops and tests a model that attributes this to the rapid expansion in the number of easy, life-time government jobs and the increase in the public/private wage differential during the 1980s.

Classical business cycles for g7 and European countries

Digitised version produced by the EUI Library and made available online in 2020