variables such as inflation or employment. A key aspect of this challenge is evaluating the incoming flow of information … contained in economic announcements. In this article, the authors develop a simple-to-read index of these announcements that … they then use to construct nowcasts. The index tracks whether key economic data have come in stronger, weaker, or as …

economic freedom index datasets of the Heritage Foundation/Wall Street Journal(HF/WSJ), which is a cumulative index derived … from several sub-indices (trade freedom index, financial freedom, labor freedom, business and fiscal freedom index). The … cumulative economic freedom index show us how open and business friendly a country is. The sub-indices show us openness across …

factor productivity growth (TFPG) index. These are easiest to understand for the case in which the index number problem is …This chapter covers the theory and methods for productivity measurement for nations. Labor, multifactor and total … factor productivity measures are defined and are related to each other and to gross domestic product (GDP) per capita. Their …