Stylised facts about New Zealand business cycles

Abstract

This memo characterises the business cycles of the New Zealand economy, a la Stock and Watson (1998). The paper provides a set of stylised facts that New Zealand macroeconomic models should, ideally, be capable of emulating. This paper therefore serves as an important backdrop to macro modelling efforts. We also examine the same data series for the US and Australia, providing an indication of which features of New Zealand’s business cycles may be idiosyncratic.