This paper formalizes the process of forecasting unbalanced monthly datasets in order to obtain robust nowcasts and forecasts of quarterly gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate through a semi-parametric modeling. This innovative approach lies in the use of non-parametric methods, based on...

We propose a new approach for detecting turning points and forecasting the level of economic activity in the business cycle. We make use of coincident indicators and of nonlinear and non-Gaussian latent variable models. We thus combine the ability of nonlinear models to capture the asymmetric...