Klein (2000) advocates the use of the Schur decomposition of a matrix pencil to solve linear rational expectations models. Meanwhile his algorithm has become a center piece in several computer codes that provide approximate solutions to (non-linear) dynamic stochastic general equilibrium models....

We propose a piecewise method to estimate the Lorenz curve for grouped income data. Our illustrative application shows that the method can produce more plausible density when the income distribution data has multiple peaks and the Lorenz curve cannot be modeled satisfactorily over the entire...

We compare different industry concentration ratios based on the Standard Industry Classification (SIC) system to ratios based on the Global Industry Classification Standard (GICS) system and demonstrate through the analysis of industry markups that GICS-based measures are better proxies for the...

The Ease of Doing Business Index is widely used by multinationals in their investment location decisions. Factor analysis and Chronbach’s alpha show its limited consistency and descriptive power of the business environment.

We study the business cycle in the US over 1959–2011 using a large-dimensional multi-level factor model. We find notable asymmetries over the business cycle, but the bulk of common dynamics is stable over time. The comovement among variables is larger in recessions compared to expansions. The...

Temporal aggregation is known to affect the persistence of time series. We study the aggregation of flow variables as well as stock data, and difference-stationarity is allowed for. Moreover, moving averages encountered when computing annual growth rates (seasonal differences) are investigated....

This study shows that China’s Consumer Expectation Index contains useful information about pure expectation shocks, which are unrelated to economic fundamentals. It turns out that such shocks are likely to be an important independent driver of industrial output growth.

Using the monthly “Employment Situation” reports for 1994–2013, this paper studies the revisions to US employment data. The paper shows that the first press release underestimates net job creation in expansions and overestimates it in downturns. The “errors” in reporting the data on...

Comparing earnings equations in the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) and the Current Population Survey, we find that the PSID considerably underestimates the returns to education during the 1992–2007 period. Non-random selection in the PSID sample appears to be the reason.

We assess the contribution of national (country-wide) and international data to the task of forecasting the real GDP of Canadian provinces. Using the targeting predictors approach of Bai and Ng (2008) [Bai, J., Ng, S., 2008. Forecasting economic time series using targeted predictors. Journal of...