This paper evaluates inflation forecasts made by Norges Bank which is recognized as a successful forecast targeting central bank. It is reasonable to expect that Norges Bank produces inflation forecasts that are on average better than other forecasts, both 'naïve' forecasts, and forecasts from...

In this paper we extend the standard shock spillover model of Bekaert and Harvey (1997), Baele (2003) and Ng (2000) to account for asymmetries of return and volatility spillover effects from the US equity market into Canada and Mexico. Unlike previous research, we model the conditional...

Much of the literature on the effect of housing wealth on consumption has been embedded in a simple life-cycle model in which housing price changes work as a wealth effect. In such models, windfall gains in housing always lead to positive changes in consumption. However, this might constitute a...

Empirical evidence on the expectations hypothesis of the term structure is in-conclusive and its validity widely debated. Using a cointegrated VAR model of US treasury yields, this paper extends a common approach to test the theory. If, as we find, spreads between two yields are non-stationary,...

Macro-stress testing studies often rely on rather short sample periods due to the limited availability of banking data. They may fail to appropriately account for the cyclicality in the interaction between the banking system and macroeconomic developments. In this paper we use a newly...

Despite the single currency, yields on government bonds in the Euro Area deviate from German bond yields. These bond spreads are usually attributed to differing default and liquidity risks. Recent research points out that time-varying global factors, approximated by risk measures or short term...

We analyze the interaction of stock market movements and politics in Germany. In contrast to the empirical evidence available for the U.S., we do not find that German stock market returns tend to be higher during liberal than during conservative governments. Also in contrast to results for the...

This paper compares the depth of the Recent Crisis and the Great Depression. We use a new data set to compare the drop in activity in the industrialized countries for seven activity indicators. This is done under the assumption that the Recent Crisis leveled off in mid-2009 for production and...

The number of studies published focusing on people’s preferences for green electricity has increased steadily, making it more and more difficult to identify key explanatory factors that determine people’s willingness-to-pay (WTP). Based on results of a meta-regression our results indicate...

Die vorliegende Studie untersucht die Zusammenhänge zwischen Erdölpreisen, Kraftstoffpreisen, verbrauchten Mengen und dem Energiesteueraufkommen. Wesentliche Ergebnisse sind, dass die verbrauchten Kraftstoffmengen mit der gesamtwirtschaftlichen Produktion und den Erdölpreisen schwanken. Vor...