In this paper we investigate the relationship between stock market returns and economic activity by using signal decomposition techniques based on wavelet analysis. In particular, we apply the maximum overlap discrete wavelet transform (MODWT) to the DJIA stock price index and the industrial...

A controversial result of some current research on the real business cycles is the claim that a common stochastic trend(the cumulative effect of permanent shocks to productivity)underlies the bulk of economic fluctuations. If confirmed, this will imply that many other forces have been relatively...

We examine correlation dynamics using daily data from 1993 to 2002 on the 5 largest eurozone stock market indices. We also study, for comparison, the correlations of a sample of individual stocks. We employ both unconditional and conditional estimation methodologies,including estimation of the...

A methodology to calibrate multifactor interest rate model for transition countries is proposed. The usual methodology of calibration with implied volatility cannot be used as there are no markets for regularly traded derivatives. The existence of such a markets is essential for this...

This paper investigates the joint hypothesis of market efficiency and unbiasedness of futures prices for the copper futures contract traded on the London Metal Exchange. This contract is of particular importance given the usage and properties of the underlying commodity and its highest share of...

We build a 4-equation model of the inflation process in South Africa (which has recently adopted inflation targeting), including the exchange rate, consumer prices, producer price, and import prices. This provides useful information on the speed and extent of exchange rate pass- through, and...

Existence of a cointegration relationship between two time series in the time domain imposes restrictions on the series zero-frequency behaviour in terms of their squared coherence, phase, and gain, in the frequency domain. I derive these restrictions by studying cross-spectral properties of a...

This paper is an exercise in applied macroeconomic forecasting. We examine the forecasting power of a vector error-correction model (VECM) that is anchored by a long-run equilibrium relationship between Greek national income and productive public expenditure as suggested by the economic theory....

The paper estimates an index of coincident economic indicators for the U.S. economy using time series with different frequencies of observation (monthly and quarterly, possibly with missing values). The model considered is the dynamic factor model proposed by Stock and Watson, specified in the...

In time series macroeconometric models, the first difference in the logarithm of a variable is routinely used to represent the rate of change of that variable. It is often overlooked that the assumed approximation is accurate only if the rates of change are small. Models of hyper-inflation are a...