One question associated with the business cycle agenda of research is to evaluate if the business cycle of different countries may present similar features despite the differences in institutions, industrial structures, public policies and growth rates that those countries may have. Backus and...

This study explores the productivity performance of the Brazilian economy between 1970 and 1998. We assess how much of the TFP downfall can be explained by some departures from the standard procedure. We incorporate to the standard measure utilization of capacity, changes in the workweek of...