In the production function-based approach proposed by the European Commission for the estimation of the potential output, trend total factor productivity (TFP) is indirectly estimated on the basis of cyclical factors. Instead, this article proposes a more economics-based foundation of trend-TFP...

In spite of the widespread use of the concept of potential output in economic theory and empirical applications as well as in economic policy debates, the historical background and the assumptions inherent to this concept are rarely made transparent, let alone critically questioned. Against this...